Twitch streamer Kai Cenat charged with inciting a riot after giveaway draws huge crowds to Union Square in New York City. The Twitch streamer has been charged with inciting a riot and unlawful assembly after thousands gathered for his PS5 giveaway.
Cenat hosted a stream where In the stream, he said they would be giving away computers, Play Station 5s, microphones, keyboards, webcams, gaming chairs, headphones and giftcards from a truck in Union Square.
“I feel like New York really deserves it,” he said.
In a press conference, NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said that the cops had become aware of the call for the gathering around 1:30 p.m., and dispatched officers to the area shortly after 3, when thousands of young people began to arrive in Union Square. He described a chaotic scene of young people breaking into a construction site, hurling paint cans and fireworks, injuring each other and officers. He said that there had been “quite a few” arrests, but didn’t have an official tally at the time.
“This speaks to the power of social media, and the danger of social media,” he said, noting that the gathering hadn’t been pre-planned with the city.
A statement released Saturday evening by Cenat’s content house, AMP, said they had been trying to create a “positive experience for fans,” as they’d done many times before.
“We’ve hosted fan meet ups and video shoots in the past, but we’ve never experienced anything at the scale of what took place yesterday,” they wrote. “We recognize that our audience and influence are growing, and with that comes greater responsibility. We are deeply disheartened by the outbreak of disorderly conduct that affected innocent people and businesses, and do not condone that behavior. We apologize to all of those impacted. We are fully cooperating with local authorities.”
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