MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: YouTuber Kai Cenat's announcement on social media that he’ll be distributing free PS5s caused a riot situation at Union Square. He was in New York as per a scheduled giveaway of Playstation, but the event turned violent as soon as photos and videos emerged showing people fighting and some throwing fire extinguishers at one another in the downtown Manhattan area.
Not less than 12 people have suffered injuries, while several NYPD officers try to take the situation under control by dispersing the crowd around 5 pm, on Friday, August 4, reports DailyMail. The NYPD issued an advisory, and tweeted, “Due to police activity, avoid the area surrounding Union Square Park & use alternate routes. Expect a police presence in the area and residual traffic delays.”
Why YouTuber Kai Cenat is in police custody?
As per authorities, around 2,000 people showed up at New York’s Union Square after Twitch star Kai Cenat announced that he’ll be giving away fans free PS5s. The number ballooned and soon it was chaos everywhere.
The 21-year-old influencer, who is among the most popular streamers on Twitch with 5.5 million followers, was reportedly arrested. He had announced the scheduled distribution with another streamer Fanum at 4 pm.
'It's a war out there man'
Many viral videos show people throwing objects and targeting construction barricades. Cenat emerged from his SUV carrying a see-through box with PS5 written inside. He directed his followers towards a truck. Almost half of the people went towards the truck, but the rest followed the social media personality. Once the car hit the 17th street, it rolled off quickly away from the ruckus.
There is no clarity on what triggered fans, “One cluster of people would let out a yell and start cheering, then another group would do the same, people were swarming over to the group that yelled the loudest just to try and see this influencer. People had little kids with them,” a witness told the outlet.
Cenat, who was present with his friends, also reacted to the chaos, “Look at this! They standing like in f*****g unity, bro,” he can be heard saying before pointing a camera at people. “Everybody for themselves, it's a war out there man.” Many believed that there has been a shootout at the scene after a group went on bursting firecrackers in one corner of Union Square.
