By: Ray Wu

Recently, thousands overran a park after online Twitch influencer, Kai Cenat, started a PS5 giveaway. At first, only a few hundred people attended. But, as word spread quickly online, thousands of others bombarded the park. According to the police, there were many injuries and arrests.

The riot created heavy traffic. Some attendees started to jump on cars, throw objects at police, and damage the park’s gates and fences.

“I personally saw other people leaving here with their heads split open, you know, cuts bruises, lacerations,” explained Jeffrey Maddrey, a high-ranking police officer. He also revealed that he had been hit in the head (The Washington Post).

With more than 6 million followers, Cenat currently holds the record for the most followers on Twitch. In February, he had hundreds of thousands of paying viewers. His popularity caused the giveaway to spread online very quickly, making the riot progressively worse.

Because of his attendee’s anticipation of getting a free PS5, Cenat was arrested and charged with first degree rioting. He is also banned from Twitch for 30 days. It took hours for the police to push the crowd out of the park.

“They’re throwing tear gas out there. We’re not going to do nothing until it’s safe … Everybody for themselves, because it’s a way out there, man”, said Cenat when he was streaming (The Washington Post).