Video Game Influencer Allegedly Incited Violent New York Mob Scene

As it turns out, there may be such thing as being too popular, even dangerously popular. With 5.6 million Instagram followers, 7.1 million fans on Tik Tok, and a reputation as the most-watched streamer in the world, it’s no surprise that Kai Cenat draws a crowd wherever he goes. But the multitudes that gathered at his command at a Manhattan park Friday appeared to arrive with more than adulation on their minds, leading to violent confrontations, mass arrests, and charges against Cenat for allegedly inciting a riot.

It all began on Wednesday, when Cenat used his massive platform to promote an in-person event at Union Square Park, a 170-year-old burial ground for the poor turned historic New York tourist attraction. In his announcement, CNN reported, Cenat promised to pass out free “computers, Play Station 5s, microphones, keyboards, webcams, gaming chairs, headphones, and gift cards” from a truck parked at the landmark at 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 4. “I feel like New York really deserves it,” he said.

But according to NYPD Chief of Department Jeff Maddrey, no permits for the event had been filed. In a press conference held Friday, Maddrey said that police weren’t aware that the likely popular event was in the cards until someone at the department spied a social media post around midday Friday. By then, thousands of people were already thronging to the area, and “the event grew exponentially, rapidly, vast,” Maddrey said.

Things turned ugly soon after that, Maddrey said. When the scheduled giveaway time arrived, members of the crowd allegedly began to attack one another as well as arriving police officers. “You had people walking around with shovels, axes, and other tools of the construction trade,” Maddrey said. According to Variety, others were “throwing rocks, bottles, paint cans and other debris and lighting fireworks and aiming them at officers and others.” 

As the chaos increased, officials called for a Level 4 police mobilization, which the NYPD characterizes as its highest level of disaster response. According to broadcast station 4 New York, an estimated 1,000 officers ended up responding to the scene, many in riot gear.