Do we like KSI?
Our score: 5 out of 10. Big charity numbers and no campaigning against anyone, but apologies for past slurs and a contested crypto episode keep him in the middle.
KSI is Olajide Olatunji, who built a name on YouTube and co-founded the Sidemen collective nearly 13 years ago. Since then he has stacked up a music career, boxing, the Prime drink with Logan Paul, a stake in Dagenham & Redbridge and a judge's chair on Britain's Got Talent.
The latest drama is the Sidemen exit. He called the group his second family, a source close to it told The Sun the others felt blindsided, and the Sidemen's own statement was short and polite. Reports link it to him being flat out with other ventures, though he hasn't spelled out a reason.
Last October he was pushed out as CEO of Misfits Boxing, the promotion he co-founded, with Andrew Tate named in the role. KSI fired off angry posts on X about it, so that one reads as a business stoush rather than a values call. We found no statement from him backing Tate.
Now the harm check, which is where it gets mixed. In April 2023 he apologised for using a racial slur in a Sidemen video and took a social media break, saying there was no excuse. Gay Times also reported in 2021 that he apologised for past use of transphobic slurs, though that piece is paywalled so I only saw the headline. Beyond that, nothing turned up on climate, vaccines or politics.
The other blot is crypto. In February 2024 investigator ZachXBT alleged KSI promoted the XCAD token and then sold about US$850,000 of it. KSI said he had no malicious intent, that he lost millions of his own money, and the XCAD co-founder said he didn't pump and dump it. No court or regulator action turned up.
The good stuff is real, though. The 2025 Sidemen charity match, which KSI led, raised more than £4.7 million for Children in Need, Bright Side and M7 Education. That is a proper pile of money for kids' causes.