Yahoo News Twitch Streamer In Custody After Giveaway Causes A Riot In NYC
Popular YouTube and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat was placed in custody on Friday afternoon after chaos erupted at his giveaway event at a park in New York City.
The event, which was promoted by Cenat earlier this week, was scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday at Union Square and would included a giveaway of video game consoles, headphones and other items, according to NBC News.
A crowd of hundreds of people gathered an hour before the event and later started getting rowdy, with people reportedly throwing garbage at police officers and tearing down barricades, NBC News New York reported.
By 4 p.m., the crowd grew to a “couple thousand people,” according to the New York Police Department. The department called for 1,000 officers to de-escalate the situation, later reporting that a couple of officers were injured and that the police saw people in the crowd hurt, but an exact injury count was not given, according to WCBS-TV.
“It was a movie,” said Skylark Jones, 19, who had attended the event, according to The Associated Press, adding that police “came with riot shields, charging at people.”
The chaos stretched beyond the park’s plaza, with the crowd blocking traffic on several streets. Video footage shows people climbing on top of cars, throwing chairs on the vehicles and hitting them with objects. Teenagers were also seen shouting and running through the streets, AP reported.
Several teenagers at one point climbed onto a city bus, seemingly to catch a glimpse of Cenat, who they believed was in it, WABC-TV in New York reported. Several people, including Cenat, who arrived at the event after it started getting out of hand, were taken into police custody. The police department said Friday evening that it had not yet been determined if Cenat would face criminal charges, according to WNBC-TV.
It is still unclear what caused the chaos. During a press conference on Friday evening, the NYPD confirmed that the event was spontaneous and had not been planned with the department. Cenat had posted Wednesday about the giveaway on his Twitch channel, which gained over 2 million views by Friday afternoon, according to NBC News.
“This speaks to the power of social media and the danger of social media,” an NYPD officer said at the press conference.
On Saturday morning, a spokesperson with the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information confirmed to HuffPost that Cenat had been arrested and charged with inciting to riot and unlawful assembly. He was issued a desk appearance ticket and is set to appear in criminal court at a future date.
Cenat has been an active Twitch streamer for years and now has more than 6.5 million followers, according to NBC News. He is known for his streaming gameplays, pranks and reaction videos on Twitch, and he broke the record for most-active subscribers in March after completing a 30-day livestream challenge.
“We’re not against young people having a good time,” the NYPD officer said at the press conference. “We’re not against young people gathering. But it can’t be to this level where it’s dangerous. A lot of people got hurt today.”
Cenat and his reps did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
