When you arrive at TwitchCon 2025 at the San Diego Convention Center, you're immediately met with tight security. Bags are checked, backpacks are prohibited, and everyone passes through metal detectors. To access different areas inside, attendees must scan their wristbands — but these often malfunction, and security rarely makes exceptions.
With such a visible security presence, you'd think creators would feel safe. They don't — and for good reason.
Emiru, a YouTuber and Twitch streamer with nearly two million followers, was assaulted at a meet-and-greet on the first day of TwitchCon. And, despite Twitch saying time and time again that "safety and security" is its "highest priority," she was left feeling "hurt and upset by how Twitch handled it during and after the fact."
"I don't understand how he was allowed to make it to me in the first place," Emiru wrote in a lengthy post on X.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
In a video posted to X, an individual approached Emiru, grabbed her, and tried to kiss her. She pushed them away before security intervened and pulled them away by the arm. Emiru says that security was her personal security, not a member of the TwitchCon security team. She said there were three or four TwitchCon security staff nearby "who did not react and let the guy walk away."
"The woman who is walking me away is my own personal manager, and behind the booth, the only two people who were checking on me and comforting me were her and my friend. None of the TwitchCon staff came to ask what happened or if I was okay," she wrote in her post.
After the video circulated widely on social media, Twitch wrote in a statement on X that it "immediately blocked this individual from returning to the TwitchCon premises, and they are banned indefinitely from Twitch, both online and in-person events." Emiru wrote that this is a "blatant lie."
"He was allowed to walk away from my meet and greet, and I didn't hear he was caught until hours after he attacked me, and it felt like this only happened because of my manager pressing for it, not because TwitchCon staff present thought it was a big deal," she wrote.
Twitch did not immediately respond to Mashable's request for comment on the conflicting accounts.
Emiru also noted that this incident follows TwitchCon's previous banning of her "favorite and usual security guard" for "holding a stalker’s arm to bring him to police" at a past event.
Now, she says this will be her final TwitchCon, and she encouraged others not to attend in the future.
"I did not feel cared for or protected, even bringing my own security and staff," she wrote. "I can't imagine how creators without those options would feel."
This isn’t the first time TwitchCon has been criticized for security concerns. In 2024, several Kick-affiliated streamers disrupted the event, harassing Twitch-affiliated creators on-site. This year, major streamers, including Valkyrae, QTCinderella, Hasan Piker, Disguised Toast, and Yvonnie, publicly announced they would not attend due to safety concerns.
Additional reporting by Crystal Bell.
from Mashable https://ift.tt/a6YRNGr
via IFTTT
Comments
Post a Comment