As we’ve talked about previously, influencer marketing is all the rage right now, but it brings with it significant risk anytime you’re putting your brand in the hands of a single person. Take Saskatoon Twitch star Alinity, for example, and the unfortunate incident she streamed live over a week ago.

The Saskatoon SPCA says it’s investigating an animal cruelty complaint against a local video game streamer who appears to pick up and throw a cat behind her during a recent livestream.

Executive director Patricia Cameron declined to comment on that specific incident but told CTV News that people react strongly any time there is an incident of potential animal neglect, abuse or cruelty.

Alinity is well known in the gaming community and has worked with multiple tech brands, including Twitch and iBUYPOWER. With over 90 thousand twitter followers and 52 million Twitch views, she has access to a large, targeted audience.

But any advertiser who chooses to work with an influencer runs the risk of having to scramble into damage control mode, and that should not only be a factor in the selection process, but the risk weighed against the value provided by any marketing efforts. Appropriate vetting might have discovered she’d previously given a live “vodka kiss” to her cat.

It’s safe to say some potential advertisers dodged a bullet on this one.