Kai Cenat has broken his silence on his New York City giveaway, which ended in mayhem and led to his arrest.
The beloved Twitch streamer took to his livestream on Wednesday to discuss the incident. “I’m still taking this whole thing in right now… This is fucking insane,” he said, per Rolling Stone. “Being from New York… it has been my dream to wanna give back to the community who made me who I am.”
He added that he's “disappointed” over the events from last Friday.
“But after Friday, bro, I’ve come to realize the amount of not only power and influence that I have on people,” Cenat said. “I am beyond disappointed at anybody who became destructive that day. That shit is not cool. None of that is cool, bro. I’m beyond disappointed in the things that went on on Friday, and I want people to know that. None of that was my intentions, bro. Not only that, I don’t condone any of things that went on, none of that is cool.”
Cenat said that whoever took part in the riot needs "serious counselling".
On Aug. 4, Cenat revealed that he would be handing out PlayStation 5s, microphones, keyboards, webcams, gaming chairs, headphones, and gift cards at Union Square Park.
Typically, a gathering this big would necessitate permits and preparation from police; however, his announcement ultimately provoked a riot, with thousands of people showing up. The NYPD later said that it had to activate a “Level 4” response and bring in around 1,000 officers to quell the crowd.
“When we do things like this, it not only needs to be safe, it needs to be fun… We can’t just running around and destroying this and destroying that,” Cenat continued. “Next time you want to do anything like this, you got to hit up the right people, make the right calls, and do it the correct way, because on a whole we all got to do better. I can’t stress this enough, it was not my intention, I don’t condone any of the things that went on that Friday in a destructive manner.”
Cenat was arrested and is facing at least two counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly. He was released the morning after his giveaway, sharing on his Twitch stream on Wednesday that he’s gonna “chill for a little bit” due to his legal issues. His first court appearance is set for Aug. 16.
