Twitch streamer Kai Cenat has been released from police custody after holding a giveaway in Union Square in New York on Friday. The planned giveaway, where Cenat intended to hand out (among other things) PlayStation 5 consoles to his followers, turned violent as several fans showed up for the event.
The NYPD reported that several thousand people had gathered before the giveaway started, and began to commit “acts of violence towards the police and the public.” Sixty-five people were arrested, thirty of them juveniles. Cenat was charged with inciting a riot after chaotic violence wreaked havoc on Union Square.
Kai Cenat’s Giveaway Had Good Intentions and Poor Planning
Kai Cenat is the most subscribed-to Twitch streamer in the platform’s history. He is the only streamer ever to reach over 300,000 concurrent active subscribers on the platform. This achievement earned him the title of “King of Twitch,” surpassing even the likes of Ninja in terms of notoriety. In terms of followers, Kai Cenat is even more well-known, with 6.5 million. So it isn’t hard to imagine that Cenat’s promise of a giveaway on his Wednesday stream drew a lot of eyes.
“I feel like New York really deserves it,” Cenat said as he promised to give away microphones, keyboards, webcams, gaming chairs, and gift cards to his followers. All they had to do was come to Union Square and answer some trivia questions. But the most compelling of Cenat’s promises was the PlayStation 5, which no doubt caught the eye of his million-strong audience.
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NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey pointed out in a press conference on Friday that Kai Cenat did not alert the police to the gathering or obtain a permit. Though Cenat had good intentions in giving away expensive prizes for free to his fans, he was likely unaware of the consequences of telling millions of strangers to gather in one place with the promise of one of the most sought-after consoles in gaming history.
The Giveaway Quickly Turned Violent
At around 3 PM on Friday, people began to gather in Union Square, preparing for the giveaway. Things quickly got out of hand. As Maddrey put it:
“the park and the surrounding streets were overrun with people, obstructing vehicular and pedestrian traffic.”
By around 4 PM, the situation had escalated to the point that the NYPD had initiated a Level 4 mobilization, its highest-level response. Thousands of people had gathered, all roused by the promise of the giveaway. The police department reported that one group of fans had stormed a nearby construction site and taken shovels and axes from it. Fireworks were launched at officers, and projectiles were thrown through the crowd as tension increased.
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By 5 PM, the NYPD pushed the crowd from Union Square towards Park Avenue, where violent instigators were tackled and taken into custody. Kai Cenat was escorted away from the scene safely as the chaos continued in the streets. It wasn’t until 6 PM that the crowds had truly dispersed.
Streamer Kai Cenat Charged with Unlawful Assembly and Inciting a Riot
After being escorted away from the scene, Kai Cenat was arrested and charged with two counts of inciting a riot and one count of unlawful assembly. Cenat was released from custody on Saturday after being given a desk appearance ticket, which requires him to appear in court on August 18th for the charges levied against him.
What do you make of all this? Who is to blame? Let us know in the comments!
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