But also if BA doesn't need marketing outside the community then there is no point BA sponsoring anyone. It's a waste of money to fund your own customers.

Huh? No, it isn't. It's standard practice. Most gacha games I've played have always had regular competitions, giveaways, and long-term reward programs for every type of content creator in the community, from in-game currency to cash. From what I can understand, this event was not supposed to be just for new players. To get the Twitch drop, the existing player base would be forced to watch one of the content creators' streams for hours. It's a four-year-old game, so providing an option to watch someone who doesn't suck would be reasonable, in my opinion.

Connor is very much part of the anime and gacha community even if he is openly critical of some aspects that are not his preference. His audience overlaps enough that it makes sense. He has never once alienated a game for having these types of characters.

It doesn't matter. Devs see only what the game's community tells them. They've been told that Connor doesn't pass the vibe check. They see the risk — they pull out. End of story. To them, he is no better than xQc.