Authorities charged online influencer Kai Cenat with inciting a riot, unlawful assembly and more after thousands of people overran a park and its surrounding area in New York City in response to a giveaway of PlayStation 5 consoles, police said — leading to injuries and dozens of arrests.
A post to Twitch streamer Cenat’s Instagram story announced a giveaway at Union Square Park on Friday at 4 p.m. By 1:30 p.m. about 300 people had gathered, Jeffrey Maddrey, the New York Police Department’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, said at a news conference Friday — “something we would expect for a social media event like this.” But by 3 p.m., news of the giveaway had spread widely online, and thousands of people began arriving in Union Square, he added.
The park was soon filled with people obstructing traffic as the crowd was seen taking down barriers and throwing objects at police. People also jumped on cars as the gathering turned into a scene of unrest.
Advertisement
Police eventually removed Cenat from the park, Maddrey said, “for safety reasons.” The event had not been coordinated with police, the chief added.
Police arrested 66 people, including 30 juveniles, according to a spokesperson from the department who did not sign an email to The Washington Post on Saturday. Cenat was arrested and charged with riot, inciting to riot and unlawful assembly. If convicted of all three charges, Cenat could be sentenced to five years in prison. He is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 18.
At least two officers and four civilians were taken to the hospital in ambulances, while another officer suffered a broken hand, Maddrey said Friday.
“I personally saw other people leaving here with their heads split open, you know, cuts, bruises, lacerations,” he said, adding that he also had been hit on the head. But he said reports that a 17-year-old had been shot had turned out to be false.
Advertisement
Maddrey said the incident showed the “power of social media, the danger of social media. We went from 300 kids to a couple of thousand kids in minutes. We have to be responsible when we use this tool.”
Cenat has 6½ million followers on Twitch and holds the record for most monthly subscribers on the platform, with more than 300,000 paying viewers in February. That is more paying subscribers than most U.S. newspapers.
Friday’s giveaway was a collaboration with the Bronx YouTube star Fanum, who discovered and elevated Cenat’s career in content creation. Cenat’s star grew as he streamed with rappers including 21 Savage and Bobby Shmurda. Cenat has earned tens of thousands of dollars a month just for streams of himself sleeping.
Share this articleShareTwitch has banned Cenat several times since 2021 for various infractions, including displaying explicit imagery, threatening other users and streaming while under the influence.
Advertisement
During a short stream inside a vehicle near Union Square on Friday, Cenat flashed a fistful of what he said were $100 gift cards held in a brown CVS paper bag to give away.
“They’re throwing tear gas out there,” Cenat said in a Twitch stream while the chaos was unfolding. “We’re not going to do nothing until it’s safe. … Everybody for themselves, because it’s a war out there, man.”
Seconds later, Cenat got out of the vehicle and was immediately swarmed by fans. The stream cut out shortly after Cenat’s bodyguards began pushing people away from him.
Maddrey said people in the park threw paint cans, bottles and rocks, while others walked around with shovels, axes and other tools from nearby construction sites. Some in the crowd, the police chief added, lit fireworks during the chaos, and he said one or two police officers had to be removed from the crowd because of injuries.
By around 5 p.m., police, some on horseback, were dispersing the crowd. As it grew closer to 6 p.m., police had pushed much of the crowd well out of the park.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLuiwMiopWhqYGeAcHyXaGdtZ5uWtm6vxKeYrWWXnsOmrdaasGabmJa8tHnNnq5msZ%2BnuHA%3D