Kai Cenat – who many may claim is the ‘King of Streaming’ – is facing serious charges in New York for inciting a riot made up of ‘over 2,000 young people’. He was in Manhattan hosting a massive giveaway made up of gift cards, PlayStation 5 consoles, and PCs, but things quickly turned awry when thousands of people arrived, hoping to secure one of the three hundred consoles that Cenat was offering.
It resulted in a mass police mobilisation, with roughly 1000 officers being called in to ultimately restore order in what was a very serious situation. In shots, we saw teenagers and young adults climbing over vehicles, hurling fireworks at police officers, and destroying police cruisers. Kai Cenat himself was arrested, and we don’t even know if any PlayStation 5 consoles were successfully handed out.
That Went South Very Fast
Reportedly, Kai Cenat posted on social media platforms that he was doing an enormous ‘IRL stream’ in New York in Union Square and that everyone should turn up because he was giving away a huge stack of technology. It took no time at all for the situation to sour immeasurably, and before long, clips were surfacing showing young people clambering over a speeding SUV that was rumoured to contain Cenat himself.
In a statement, the NYPD’s Chief Maddrey spoke on the situation:
We don’t want to do this, we want our young people to come out and have fun. But when it gets to the point where they’re disorderly we want the parents to take control. Young people destroyed our vehicles. My car is destroyed, the Commissioner’s car is destroyed, other police vehicles are destroyed. They destroyed food carts, they destroyed stores.
It’s a damning and terrifying realisation of the power of modern-day influencers that can drum up a swarm of people at the press of a button. It can be argued that Kai Cenat is the most popular streamer on Earth right now, even if all he does is sit in front of a camera in a room and hang out with people.
It can also be argued that it wasn’t Cenat’s fault specifically, but the NYPD feels differently. He is allegedly facing charges of inciting a riot and staging an unlawful assembly.
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What do you think? Do social media ‘influencers’ need to be kept in check a little more, and are they becoming a bit too big for their boots, or is this level of attention deserved?
For more Insider Gaming news, check out our coverage of John Cena’s promotion of Overwatch 2
