On 3 November 2024, popular Twitch streamer Kai Cenat underwent a highly intense swatting incident live while streaming his much-awaited Mafiathon 2 subathon. The swatting incident was taking place live as Cenat could view a helicopter hovering around his house and, therefore, requested the production team to stream it. “Y’all got a helicopter surrounding my house, bro!” he exclaimed, sharing the alarming moment with his viewers.
Just days after the helicopter spotting, Cenat’s Twitch account was temporarily suspended, making it the sixth suspension of the user on the streaming site. He went back online in short order to vent his frustrations on the air, revealing that a caller had falsely reported a violent crime at his residence, which prompted an emergency response. “One of y’all thought it was funny … called the cops and said, ‘Someone in the house shot their brother, killed them, and then shot themselves,'” Cenat said, dismayed by the risks swatting incidents continue to pose.
Swatting is a dangerous prank that involves false emergency reports that target several public figures and cause disturbances, destruction of property, and dangers to personal safety. This means swatting saw that Cenat was not the first one as he already experienced a similar incident in 2022. At the same time, there is growing attention on online safety and the enforcement of swatting laws like Georgia’s new law which requires swatting perpetrators to cover damages.
Despondency on his part has to live with the notion, though- that the scandal unwittingly increased support and made subathon subscribers leap by more than 140,000; also, very recently rewarded for donating 20 percent of his gains from the Mafiathon toward a school-building enterprise in Nigeria.
With the ongoing rise in swatting cases, police insist that the most dangerous pranks have become capable enough to drain emergency resources and affect people’s psyches. Cenat returned to his broadcast and thanked his audience for their resilience amidst such threats.
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