Twitch streamers Kai Cenat and Fanum invited fans to Union Square on Friday for a real-life stream and giveaway. They promised to hand out gift cards, gaming PC equipment and PlayStation 5s.
But the IRL stream descended into chaos as frenzied fans rioted over the giveaway, shutting down lower Manhattan in the aftermath.
Cenat, who has 6.5 million Twitch followers and 4 million YouTube subscribers, advertised the New York City giveaway in now-deleted tweets. He collaborated with Fanum, who has 1.3 million followers on Twitch and 1.2 million on YouTube. The stream was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on Friday.
But by 1:10 pm, police responded t...
