Twitch streamer facing charges of inciting a riot after threatening to give away PS5s

One of the planet’s biggest streaming superstars is on the hook for charges of inciting a riot this week, as Kai Cenat—the most-subscribed Twitch streamer of all time, and a winner of multiple “Streamer Of The Year” awards at the kinds of awards shows that recognize streamers of the year—was brought in for questioning by the NYPD after an attempted giveaway for his fans led to reports of chaos in New York’s Union Park

Per Vulture, Cenat—who’s 21, and whose brand includes prank-based, self-described “mischief” from time to time—announced to his more than 15 million social media followers yesterday, “Fuck it <3 NYC! Tomorrow 8/4/23 huge giveaway at 14 St Union Square Park,” announcing that he’d be giving away “PC’s, PS5’s, gaming chairs etc,” and demanding that they “BE THERE.”

And THERE they, indeed, were with the NYPD stating that ““thousands” of “mostly young people” arrived in the park earlier today in hopes of loading up on, presumably, furniture. And while we are not immediately inclined to take the NYPD’s word entirely at face value when describing the actions of young people—and especially a group of young people who, from photos, was made up largely people of color—there do appear to have been a whole hell of a lot of people in Union Park today. The cops say that people in the crowd were throwing fireworks at each other, along with other debris, and that, “officers were attacked. We were crushed, we were pushed. We had officers on the floor.”

Ultimately, several dozen people were arrested during the incident, presumably without receiving their chairs or expensive video game consoles. (NYPD eventually put the number of arrests at 65, including 30 juveniles.) Police also said that Cenat  now faces charges of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly; it’s not clear if streamer Fanum, who was a co-organizer of the event, will face similar charges.