A YouTuber with over 13.6 million subscribers and over 5 million followers on Twitter said he was approached about promoting the tron (TRX) token – a charge which Tron chief Justin Sun has rushed to deny, despite skepticism from the crypto community.
The controversy began when the YouTuber in question, Marques Brownlee (aka MKBHD) live-streamed an explanatory video about the dogecoin (DOGE) phenomenon. Around midway through the video, however, he began to describe an email he received, claiming that it was from Tron or someone representing the network.
He stated that the email detailed information on how Tron had paid high-profile influencers such as pop stars Lindsay Lohan and Ne-Yo to make sponsored tweets on their social media posts, without publicly revealing they were affiliated with Tron – reiterating allegations that may land Sun in trouble with the American regulatory Securities and Exchange Commission.
Brownlee went on to say the email contained links to the celebrities’ posts, who had engaged in what he termed “cringe behavior.”
And the emailer went on to ask Brownlee if he would be prepared to accept sponsorship in return for posting about Tron on his own social media platforms.
But Brownlee took a dim view of the approach, claiming that it was an example of the very antithesis of a project like DOGE, where growth was organic.
He said of Tron,
“Just look at the comments, everybody! People are already turned off by it. Actually people kind of hate it.”