Twitch streamer faces “multiple charges” over chaotic PS5 giveaway

11 August, 2023

Kai Cenat, one of the world’s most popular streamers with over six million followers on Twitch, has been hit with several charges over the chaos caused when he promoted a PlayStation 5 giveaway.

Held in Union Square in New York City, Cenat announced the event in the early afternoon of August 4. He promised a “big New York IRL stream” – reports said that there were approximately 6,000 fans who showed up to get a shot at grabbing a console.

According to a report from Wired, police arrested at least 65 people with half of them being adolescents. On the other hand, though Cenat and his friends were assumed to be in an SUV that tried to speed away from the area, he was taken into custody and questioned over the event.

Now, he faces charges for inciting a riot, first-degree rioting and unlawful assembly. In a recent stream, he spoke out about the chaos that was caused and how he is “beyond disappointed” that the giveaway turned out this way.

“That’s not cool. None of that is cool,” he said. “I want people to know that none of that was my intention. I had good intentions for this whole thing, and none of that was my intention.”

“I don’t condone any of the things that went on that day. None of that is cool. I’m seeing random videos of people getting started on people’s cars, and I’m asking myself while I’m watching the video, ‘Why?'”

The streamer acknowledged that he had “not only power but influence” over others and that should he ever arrange an event like this again, he would “hit up the right people, make the right calls, and do it the correct way.”

Cenat is expected to appear in court on August 16. “I’m being hit with multiple charges,” he explained to the audience. PC Gamer received confirmation that inciting to riot and unlawful assembly are considered misdemeanours however a charge of first degree riot is a class E felony and may lead to a maximum penalty of four years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

“For me streaming, I’m gonna have to chill for a little bit due to the fact that, one, I got court dates that I gotta appear to. “I have things that I actually have to handle … y’all not going to be seeing me for a little bit, and I mean like a little bit—it’s not gonna be nothing long, okay.”

In other gaming news, the latest hotfix for Baldur’s Gate 3 solved the save file issue where the story databases get bigger and bigger.

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