Kai Cenat Breaks His Silence On New York Riot In First Stream Back
Last Friday, a grand giveaway hosted by Twitch superstar Kai Cenat made headlines for all of the wrong reasons. The streamer announced an impromptu meet up in New York City's Union Square, where he promised to hand out PlayStation 5 consoles and other prizes to lucky fans who showed up on time. Attracting a massive turnout, the giveaway quickly got out of hand as members of the crowd became violent, fighting and destroying property. A number of arrests were made before the night was through, and Cenat himself was charged with inciting a riot. Now, the streamer has returned to Twitch in an attempt to set the record straight.
Several of Kai Cenat's fellow streamers have already weighed in with their thoughts on the riot, with some arguing that none of it was his fault and others saying he should have been more aware of the danger. Now that fans have gotten a chance to hear more of Cenat's side of things, it seems the streamer's feelings fall somewhere in the middle. During his first stream since the incident in New York, Kai Cenat expressed his disappointment in his fanbase and his astonishment that things could so quickly go awry. He also had a few pointed things to say to the press that have covered the event.
Kai Cenat goes live to talk about the riot
At the top of the stream, Kai Cenat attempted to broach the subject with a bit of self-effacing humor, holding up a newspaper with the riot coverage on the front cover and giving a bewildered look to the camera. He then acknowledged that a lot of people have been waiting to hear what he has to say, but conceded that he was still coming to terms with the past few days. Still, he wanted to hop on a short stream to give people his side of the story.
Cenat kicked off his comments by trying to explain why he did the giveaway, as well as how he thinks things grew beyond his control: "Being from New York ... it has been my dream to want to give back to the community that made me who I am ... But after Friday, bro, I've come to realize the amount of not only power, but influence that I have on people."
The streamer denounced the actions of the rioters and said that he did not condone any of the destruction of property that occurred on Friday night. Referencing a series of viral videos in which attendees of the giveaway danced on top of cars and damaged them, he said, "Anything we do like this has to be safe and fun. We can't just be running around and destroying this and destroying that ... I want y'all to know that none of that is how I wanted any of this to go, bro. I had straight good intentions, and I didn't think that it was gonna be what it was."
Kai Cenat: 'Leave my family out of it'
Kai Cenat said that he's been really looking within over the last few days and telling himself that he needs to "hit up the right people [and] make the right calls" before holding an event like this in the future. The streamer revealed that his first court hearing is currently scheduled for August 16, but he did not provide many other details at this time, other than the fact that he was probably going to be MIA on his channel in the near future.
He did, however, have a message for the media outlets and journalists covering this story as it has developed. "To the news, to the media ...just leave my family out of it," he said. "You feel me? There is no reason why y'all are showing up to my mom's house." He pointed out that his mother lives well away from New York City, so anyone going to her for a comment has to specifically drive out of their way to do so. Cenat noted that he's not concerned with what the media has to say about him, because he's used to criticism and can shake it off, but he'd appreciate people giving his family some privacy.
And with that, Kai Cenat thanked his fans again and signed off after less than 15 minutes. Judging from the comments streaming in throughout his broadcast, Kai Cenat's viewers are still split on whether or not the riot was all his fault. Those debates will no doubt continue well into Cenat's court hearings, but it sounds like the streamer intends to keep his loyal fans updated.