Thousands of people gathered in New York City’s Union Square on Friday afternoon, hoping to win a massive gaming giveaway from Twitch streamer Kai Cenat. The crowd quickly grew out of control and spilled out of Union Square Park and into the street, engulfing cars and taxi cabs. Cenat has been questioned by police, who are considering charges due to the chaos of the unsanctioned event.
Cenat and YouTuber Fanum intended to give away PlayStation 5s, gaming PCs, and various gaming accessories at the meetup that was announced earlier in the week by Cenat. The giveaway was expected to kick off at 4 p.m. ET. A tweet advertising the event has since been deleted. Cenat streamed live from the scene, first from a vehicle where he acknowledged the large crowd and NYPD presence and warned his fans to be safe.
The stream continued for mere minutes after Cenat exited the car, flanked by bodyguards, and was overwhelmed by the crowd. The streaming device appears to have been dropped on the ground before the stream ended. Video footage from a person at the event shows Cenat being lifted out of the crowd and escorted away by police.
Video from the scene showed pandemonium as thousands of people congregated inside Union Square Park and out into the streets, oftentimes on top of buses and cars. “A lot of young people got hurt,” NYPD chief of department Jeffrey Maddrey said during a press conference Friday. Maddrey described young people coming out of the crowd bleeding and having panic attacks. Several officers were injured, too, he said.
“Expect a police presence in the area and residual traffic delays,” police tweeted just before 4 p.m. Live helicopter footage from the scene, however, showed police arresting people in the crowd and loading them into a city bus as people climbed on cars and structures. Police said during a press conference at 6 p.m. that “quite a few” people were arrested.
Fanum appears to have left the crowd in a black SUV surrounded by people. A person wearing a bright green hoodie, likely Fanum, can be seen from the vehicle’s sun roof as the car backed out of the crowd. Once out of the crowd, the car exited the scene with several people hanging off the back — at least one person fell off the car as it was driving away from the scene, as seen on CBS New York’s live feed. Police are considering charges against the popular streamer. Cenat did not have a permit for the event, Maddry said.
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Photo: CBS News via livestream
Soon after Cenat left the area, the crowd began to slowly disperse. Union Square Park was largely cleared by 5:30 p.m.
Cenat is a 21-year-old Twitch streamer and YouTube creator; earlier this year, he became the most-subscribed-to Twitch streamer, beating the record from Ludwig Ahgren. This year, he won the Streamer of the Year title from the Streamer Awards and the Streamys. Like Fanum, he is part of the YouTube collective AMP. Cenat has millions of followers across his social media platforms.