Chaos erupted on Friday afternoon in New York City’s Union Square as thousands of teenagers descended on the area for a chance to win a PlayStation 5. The giveaway, hosted by Twitch streamer Kai Cenat, quickly devolved into a riot that saw the streamer’s fans vandalizing cars and violently confronting police officers.
21-year-old Kai Cenat, the 2023 “Streamer of the Year” who boasts a record-setting 306,621 subscribers on Twitch, announced the PlayStation giveaway on his website earlier that day, inviting fans to meet up in Union Square Park at 3:30 pm.
Video of the event shows that things quickly got out of hand as more and more fans arrived on the scene. The teenagers climbed light poles, danced on top of cars and, in one instance, swarmed and vandalized a city bus.
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Fights broke out within the crowd, and tensions escalated further when the New York Police Department arrived and declared it an unlawful gathering. Members of the crowd began lobbing bottles and fireworks at officers, prompting a level-four mobilization by the department.
“We have encountered things like this before, but never to this level of dangerous, this where young people would not listen to our commands,” NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said in a press conference after the crowd dispersed. Multiple officers, including Maddrey himself, were hit with objects during the course of the riot, and six people (officers and civilians) were hospitalized with injuries.
Maddrey further confirmed that the NYPD had made 65 arrests, with 30 of those being juvenile offenders. According to the police chief and other public officials, this event spoke to the dangerous power of social media and the need for stronger families.
“I had thousands of kids out there, I needed thousands of parents,” Maddrey said. “When it gets to the point where it’s disorderly, we want the parents to come and take control.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams echoed this sentiment in a Saturday news conference, saying “our children cannot be raised by social media. Our children cannot get their values, their beliefs from social media and other outside entities.”
Adams continued by praising the NYPD’s “disciplined” response to the volatile situation in Union Square, further suggesting that “outside agitators” may have played a part in escalating the conflict in the streets. “You don’t come to get free Game Boys [sic] and bring smoke bombs and bring M-80s and bring other disruptive items,” Adams said.
Late on Friday, the NYPD announced that Cenat had been charged with at least two counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly. The department also asked the public for help identifying a number of other suspects wanted in connection to acts of vandalism and assaults on officers.
Kai Cenat, the social media influencer who sent thousands of people loose on Midtown, NYC this Friday will be charged.
Multiple counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly.pic.twitter.com/FeIQ2mDL9E
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) August 5, 2023
“We are deeply disheartened by the outbreak of disorderly conduct that affected innocent people and businesses, and do not condone that behavior,” a statement from Cenat’s representatives said. “We apologize to all of those impacted. We are fully cooperating with local authorities.”
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