Last summer, online streaming personality Kai Cenat was arrested for inciting a riot and unlawful assembly after thousands of people created a stampede after promising to give away a PlayStation console. The charges will be dropped after Cenat agreed to apologize and pay restitution for the incident.
According to The Associated Press, the 22-year-old New York City native, along with two other codefendants, will pay more than $57,000, plus go on social media to apologize for his role in causing the mayhem that took place in the Union Square section of Manhattan on Aug. 4, 2023.
Cenat did log on to his Snapchat account on May 7 and apologized for “the disruption and damage to the community, the park, the vehicles, and the storefronts in the area.”
He also wrote, “I wanted to do something cool and fun for people and did not think it was going to turn into something that caused harm to the city, and I should have thought more about the post before I announced it.”The charges would be dropped after the apology was up for 24 hours, according to M’Niyah Lynn, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg
. He was also required to pay $55,000 to the Union Square Partnership to cover the costs of cleaning up and repairing the landscape. Cenat’s codefendants also had to apologize and pay about $1,000 each.When the incident occurred, many streamer fans had gathered at the location. When thousands of people were at the scene, they started getting rowdy, bashing car windows, jumping on vehicles, throwing paint cans, and setting off fire extinguishers. Police officers showed up to Union Square wearing riot gear to try to control the assembled crowd. It was reported that six people were taken to the hospital, and some of the people there were seen attacking police officers.
The NYPD arrested 65 people, a little under half of them were minors.