Who is Kai Cenat, the influencer at the centre of New York City mayhem?

The streamer and social media influencer Kai Cenat is at the centre of mayhem that erupted in New York City's Union Square on Friday after he announced that he would be giving away Playstation 5 consoles.

Cenat and fellow streamer Fanum had teased the giveaway to their millions of followers on Instagram, that it was scheduled to take place at 4pm.

However, a mass crowd, estimated to be around 2000 people arrived on the scene leading to unsavoury scenes which resulted in the injuries of a reported 12 people.

Fighting and the throwing of fire extinguishers were also reported with two people being arrested. Some revelers also climbed on the roof of Union Square station.

New York Police Department declared a "level four" mobilisation, meaning roughly 1,000 officers were deployed to the scene.

On a live stream at the event, Cenat could be heard saying: "Look at this! hey standing like in f*****g unity, bro."

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He also added: "Everybody for themselves, it's a war out there man."

And he said: "They're throwing tear gas out there."

Cenat had also teased that items such as gaming PCs, gift cards and gaming Chairs would be given away at the event.

Amid the chaos it has been reported that Cenat was placed into law enforcement custody as confirmed by the New York Police Department.

Who is Kai Cenat?

21-year-old Cenat, real name Kai Carlo Cenat III, was born in New York in December 2001.He is one of the most popular streamers and influencers on the internet today. He is the most subscribed to Twitch streamer ever with more than 300,000 at his peak in February 2023.

He also has more than 6 million followers on Instagram and more than 4 million subscribers on YouTube. Most of his content revolves around video games, comedy and pranks.

He is said to have a net worth of around $12 million.

In May he was named as one of Rolling Stone magazine's most influential people on social media. In the prior month he was temporarily banned from Twitch for reportedly violating the platform's rules.

Also in May, he and fellow streamer iShowSpeed signed a lucrative deal with rival platform Rumble to produce a handful of livestreams a month.

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