NYC: The Giveaway Turned Riot
It’s all over the headlines: A peaceful giveaway event in New York City by a streamer later became a dangerous riot of thousands of people. The event got quite out of hand, and the NYPD got called in. Later, the police arrested some 60 or so people, 30 of which under-aged, and also the streamer in the middle of all this. Today, we’re looking at the details of this riot and briefly at the influencing power of influencers.
The person behind this event was the Twitch streamer and social media influencer Kai Cenat. The twenty-one-year-old said in a stream that he would be giving away August 4th Play Station 5 gaming consoles, computers, gaming chairs, gift cards, headphones, microphones, keyboards, and webcams, all at an event at Union Square in NYC. And that planted the seeds for the later riot, which would involve people throwing “anything they could get their hands on,” as one witness put it. According to the same witness, the event started peacefully, with people gathering at Union Square. Gradually, the crowd grew, and that was when violence broke out, supposedly when someone threw a water bottle. Soon enough, everything from paint cans to chairs to the barricades got tossed about, and injuries got reported after someone set off fireworks. It ultimately prompted a “Level 4” response from the NYPD, the highest level of disaster response, and an estimated 1000 officers responding to the scene. The police did disperse the crowd, with no one getting their hands on the “giveaway prizes,” and Kai Cenat himself got arrested. The police department announced they had charged him with two counts of inciting a riot and one count of unlawful assembly.
Although the event is over, the troubles for Kai Cenat seemingly have not ended, and what would turn out from this is still unclear. But how did Kai Cenat gather thousands of people, most of them juveniles? It has to do with the way the influencer industry operates. This sector burst to life essentially with the birth of the internet, and on the very early video-sharing platforms, we can see creators sharing tips and tricks they use in their daily lives. The key to influencer success is people believe in the person just like they would trust someone in their everyday lives. Naturally, those interested in gaming flock to game streamers, and people looking for dinner recipes subscribe to cooking channels. If an influencer can promote a product their followers want, then the sponsoring company, the influencer, and the consumer all win. The company gets itself advertised, the influencer gets paid an ad fee, and the consumer has the product they need. Subsequently, Cenat managed to gather thousands of people because these individuals all wanted to have fun and have a chance to get a PS5 console.
For now and in the foreseeable future, social media personalities like Kai Cenat will continue to wield the “influence” that allows them to live up to the name. But as with the harsh reality of the world, it isn’t a “happily-for-ever-after” story ending. Kai Cenat has gotten charged, and there will be a court case regarding those charges. Do you think Kai Cenat is innocent and didn’t have any intentions of inciting a riot? Leave your thoughts in the comments. That’s the end of this production from the New News Newsminute. As always, thank you for reading and for your support.