Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 5 actor Ned Luke, who plays Michael de Santa, was the victim of a swatting while streaming the game on Thursday.
While talking to his chat, Luke gets a seemingly unassuming phone call. Quickly, however, you can sense a demeanor change as he stands up.
“They what?” Luke says before replying to the person on the phone with an “Oh, nice…nice.”
He then tells his chat he’s got to go, causing his stream to abruptly end an hour in..
“Now these assholes have swatted my house, so I’ve got to go,” Luke said.
Despite the known dangers of it, swatting is unfortunately still prevalent for streamers. Luckily for Luke, it doesn’t appear that the worst happened during the incident.
He did comment on the matter in a reply on Twitter, clarifying that his swatting had nothing to do with Rockstar’s protection of players of the game. The GTA 5 actor also seems to suggest that this isn’t the first time he’s dealt with swatting over the years.
“This had nothing to do with Rockstar,” Luke said. “These assholes leaked my private info years ago and have been doing this shit since. Anyone’s info is available online if you are sick [enough] to really wanna find it.”
Swatting, though illegal in most places in the United States, isn’t technically classified as a felony at a federal level. Some states, however, are pushing for harsher swatting penalties due to it continuing to happen to not only streamers but schools and hospitals.
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