Who is Kai Cenat, the streamer who was arrested after causing a riot in New York?

Kai Cenat is at the center of a PR storm after his PS5-giveaway sparked a full-scale riot in New York City on Friday evening.

The streamer is popular on Twitch and he holds 20 million subscribers on the platform, and so there was a lot of eyes on his Friday broadcast.

In this broadcast he encouraged his followers to gather in Union Square Park, where he promised to give away a number of PS5 systems, as well as other gaming-related electronic devices.

Such has been the difficulty in getting a PS5 for much of the console's lifespan, people are desperate to get their hands on the gaming system, even if availability is beginning to gradually improve.

Stream sparked a full-scale riot

Police were called to Union Square Park not long after the event began in earnest, with around 2,000 teens and young adults having filled the area in the hope of receiving a free console.

As impatience grew, what appeared initially as a scrum for a console, turned into a full-blown riot with violence appearing everywhere you looked.

Bottles were thrown and several social media websites have seen videos of individuals jumping on cars, trying to tip vehicles over and attempting to smash windows.

Cenat was present at the event himself, streaming for an hour as the crowd grew and began to lose their sense of reason.

After causing a riot and seeing the damage it created, Kai Cenat was held responsible for the unrest and was arrested by police.

He was taken into custody at a precinct in Midtown, New York and he is expected to be formally charged with two counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly due to the sheer mass of people he encouraged to congregate in one space.

Cenat's work in the social media sphere saw him awarded with the 'Steamer of the Year' award during the 12th Streamy Awards held in December 2022.