The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, said on Saturday that “outside agitators” may have been behind the violence involving thousands of young people that broke out in Manhattan’s Union Square.
Adams mentioned Kai Cenat when asked about the incident, which was sparked by what was supposed to be a PlayStation giveaway organised by the Twitch influencer Cenat. Adams noted that Cenat “had a substantial number of followers” and “people came from outside the city to be there.”
“We are further looking into were there even some outside agitators. You don’t come to get free Game Boys and bring smoke bombs and bring M80s and bring other disruptive items,” Adams said, mentioning a different video gaming system. “We believe there were some outside influencers that may have attempted to aggravate this situation.”
The 21-year-old social media personality Cenat had promoted a giveaway of a PlayStation and other electronics in Union Square. Cenat has more than 13 million followers across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch. The NYPD reported that thousands of children and teenagers attended, and the Friday afternoon gathering resulted in chaos.
Some young individuals were shown in an online video climbing on cars, hurling bottles, and punching people. In other videos, spectators could be heard shouting derogatory anti-NYPD chants.
Adams also spoke against the harmful effects of social media on children during the press conference and shared his personal experiences as a father of a boy who is now 27 years old.
“It is difficult being a parent now with so much weight and so many obligations they are facing,” Adams said. “Our children cannot be raised by social media. Our children cannot get their values, their beliefs from social media and other outside entities. And it’s about being aware that the things that my mother needed to raise me is different from the things that parents need today. Our children are being inundated by influencers, by those who consider themselves to be credible messengers.”
Adams commended the NYPD for their handling of the tense scenario.
“I cannot say enough for the police department yesterday, I don’t think people realized the level of discipline that was showed to take a very dangerous, volatile situation and to be able to bring it to a level of resolve without any loss of life or any substantial damage to property, and without young people harming themselves,” he added.
At a previous press conference on Friday night, NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey reported that 65 people had been detained, including 30 children. Speaking about the strength and risk of social media, Maddrey described how the giveaway event, which was unofficial and not authorised, expanded “exponentially, rapidly, fast” from only a few hundred people to thousands in a short period of time.
“We wanted the kids to just comply with us and leave, but we were met with a lot of resistance. We were attacked,” Maddrey said. “My older brother just called and said he saw video of me getting hit in the head with an object. It was a very tough situation out here, and I really have to commend the women and men of this department, the level of restraint they showed in addressing these young people.”
