What Did Kai Cenat Do? Riot, Lawsuits, and Allegations

What Kai Cenat did, in the sense that put his name in headlines, was promote an unpermitted PlayStation 5 giveaway in Manhattan’s Union Square in August 2023 that drew thousands and turned into a riot, leading to his arrest on charges that were later dropped after he paid restitution and posted a public apology. He is otherwise an American Twitch streamer who has repeatedly broken the platform’s subscriber records, and his live events have been linked to a recurring pattern of crowd-control failures, along with a handful of civil lawsuits.

Who Kai Cenat Is

Cenat was born in Brooklyn shortly after September 11, 2001, to Caribbean parents, and grew up in a single-parent household that spent time in shelters in Georgia before settling in the Bronx.¹ He started posting pranks and skits to YouTube in 2018 at 16, moved to Twitch in 2021, and by March 2023 had passed 300,000 active Twitch subscriptions during a month-long subscriber marathon, breaking a platform record previously held by Ludwig Ahgren.² In 2024 he became the first streamer signed to a Nike endorsement deal. In September 2025, during a marathon stream called Mafiathon 3, he became the first Twitch user to pass one million active subscribers.³

The Union Square Riot

On August 4, 2023, Cenat used social media to promote a giveaway of PlayStation 5 consoles, computers, and gift cards at Union Square in Manhattan. He did not obtain a city permit or coordinate with police. The crowd grew from a few hundred to several thousand within minutes.⁴

Attendees threw paint cans, rocks, bottles, and fireworks at police and bystanders. Some grabbed shovels and axes from a nearby construction site. Food carts, police vehicles, and storefronts were damaged, the Union Square Greenmarket shut down, and subway trains bypassed the station.⁵ A city bus commandeered by police to transport arrestees was attacked by the crowd.⁶

The NYPD activated a Level 4 mobilization, its highest disaster-response designation. Officers arrested 65 people, nearly half of them minors. At least three officers were injured, including a sergeant who suffered a broken hand, and at least four civilians were hospitalized.⁶⁴

Charges and How the Case Ended

Cenat was detained at the scene and charged with inciting a riot and unlawful assembly, as were two associates, Denzel Dennis and Muktar Din.⁵ NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said the gathering “wasn’t a permitted event, it wasn’t a sanctioned event,” and pledged a review of how the department monitors social media. Mayor Eric Adams called the episode a “parenting issue,” noting that many participants were teenagers.⁴

On May 7, 2024, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced that the charges against all three defendants would be dropped. The defendants collectively paid $57,099 in restitution to the Union Square Partnership. Cenat paid $55,000, and Dennis and Din each paid roughly $1,050. Each defendant also posted a public apology on Snapchat that had to remain online for 24 hours.⁷⁸ After those conditions were met, the case was dismissed.⁹

The Luxury Rental Lawsuit

In November 2024, a property management company called Million Dollar Luxe LLC sued Cenat in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The complaint alleged that he violated a short-term residential lease by hosting large-scale events at the property, including weddings, a carnival, and a performance by a 200-piece marching band. It also alleged that his group used pyrotechnics and disabled the home’s security system, exceeding occupancy limits of 15 people at night and 25 during the day.¹⁰

A judge granted a partial temporary restraining order barring Cenat from activities that would require permits or specialized insurance and ordering him to restore the security system. The judge wrote that he was “unpersuaded that plaintiff is likely to prevail on any tort other than, perhaps, fraud or nuisance.” The plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the case without prejudice in December 2024, and there is no indication it was refiled.¹⁰

Named in Drake’s Lawsuit Against Universal

In January 2025, Drake filed a federal lawsuit against Universal Music Group alleging that the label engaged in a “whitelisting” strategy, allowing certain content creators, including Cenat, to monetize reaction videos to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” without copyright enforcement in order to boost the song’s reach. The complaint named Cenat alongside other streamers but did not allege he had done anything wrong on his own. The claim was aimed at UMG’s promotional practices.¹¹ In October 2025, a federal judge dismissed the case, ruling that the song’s lyrics amounted to “hyperbole” in the context of a rap feud rather than verifiable defamatory statements. Drake’s attorneys said they planned to appeal.¹²

Streamer University Crowd Incidents

Cenat launched Streamer University in 2025, a four-day program at the University of Akron for aspiring creators. The event drew criticism on several fronts, including accusations from streamer Malik Richh that Cenat favored friends and established creators in admissions, misogynistic online commentary directed at some female participants, and backlash over Cenat’s team naming the influencer DDG its “MVP” shortly after his ex-partner Halle Bailey had obtained a temporary restraining order against DDG alleging abuse. The event itself saw physical altercations, a trashed dorm room, a hospitalized student, and the leak of Drake’s personal phone number during a livestreamed call.¹³

When in-person auditions for Streamer University 2 were held in Atlanta in June 2026, the Union Square pattern resurfaced. Unpermitted gatherings on June 15 and 16 led to pushing, shoving, and seven arrests on charges including disorderly conduct, simple assault, and battery on a law enforcement officer.¹⁴¹⁵

Other Controversies

Assault Allegation Against an Associate

In January 2023, TikTok creator Jovi Pena publicly alleged that a friend of Cenat’s, identified as Djigui Seck, raped her while she was asleep at a New Year’s Eve party Cenat hosted. The allegation was against Seck, not Cenat. Addressing the matter on a Twitch stream, Cenat denied any involvement or prior knowledge, said he had only met Pena that night, and said he “went nowhere else but the police instantly” after learning of the claim. He described Seck, a high school friend, as “in complete shock” at the accusation and asked followers not to harass Pena.¹⁶

Twitch Suspension

In April 2023, Cenat’s Twitch channel was temporarily suspended for violating the platform’s community guidelines. The specific reason was not publicly disclosed, and the channel was restored after an undisclosed period.¹⁷

1
Boardroom. The Rapid Rise of Kai Cenat
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Complex. Kai Cenat Breaks Twitch Subscriber Record
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Teen Vogue. Kai Cenat Breaks Twitch Active Subscriber Record During Mafiathon 3
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CNN. Kai Cenat Union Square NYC Crowds
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New York Times. Kai Cenat Union Square Charges
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NY1. Union Square Crowd
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PIX11. Kai Cenat Union Square Riot Case Dismissed After Public Apology
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CNN. Kai Cenat Union Square Giveaway Riot Charge Dropped
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NY1. Kai Cenat Union Square Riot Case Dismissed After Apology
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UniCourt. Million Dollar Luxe LLC v. Kai Cenat LLC
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Hot 97. Kai Cenat Named in Drake’s Federal Lawsuit Against Universal
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Billboard. Drake Lawsuit Kendrick Lamar Not Like Us Dismissed
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Cosmopolitan. Kai Cenat Streamer University Controversy Explained
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Fox 5 Atlanta. Kai Cenat Streamer University Atlanta Rescheduled
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CBS News Atlanta. State Farm Arena Kai Cenat Streamer University Shut Down
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HotNewHipHop. Kai Cenat Breaks Silence After TikTok Star Accuses His Friend of Raping Her
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BBC. Kai Cenat Twitch Ban