Yeah OP is reaching but && knows how to brand himself, even if it is as a kook. His "authentic"ness seems pretty contrived to me ironically
I honestly don’t think it was about ‘branding’, it was just him being a bit autistic and stubborn, taking the ‘individualism’ aspect seriously.
When he started doing that, the helmet blacklisted him from getting any kind of ‘core’ coverage, but he stubbornly stuck to his guns.
He ended up going the YouTube route because his choice cut him off from the usual route, for better or worse.
As for the ‘authentic’ thing, that was the name of his first shop sponsor, and he just never changed his handle. He was never trying to make a statement about himself with that word, from what I understand.