Emiru Blasts Twitch’s Handling Of Her Assault At TwitchCon

One of the top creators in the world, Emiru, was just assaulted by a fan on the first day of TwitchCon, in which the individual tried to forcibly hug and kiss her. It was captured on video and widely circulated as creators and fans hurled criticism at Twitch for allowing this to happen.

It took Twitch several hours to respond, issuing a statement about wanting attendees to be safe and how the offending individual was handled. It was so poorly received it actually got community noted, and a day or so after the assault, Emiru herself posted a statement that contradicted much of what Twitch said, and expressed her anger about how the situation was handled before, during and afterward. I will post her full statement further down the article, but here are the main points:

The man was allowed to cross multiple barriers to reach her without being stopped.
The security who pushes the man away in the video is her personal security. Her usual security guard was previously banned from the event for holding a stalker’s arm at a past TwitchCon.
There were other TwitchCon security staff nearby who did nothing and let the man simply walk away. None of the TwitchCon staff came to see if she was okay after the fact.
A friend told her Twitch security were joking about how they didn’t see what happened.
Emiru disputes the man was immediately caught and detained, saying he was allowed to walk away and she heard he wasn’t caught until hours later.
In a separate video outside of this tweet, she said that Amazon/Twitch originally just wanted the man banned from the platform for 30 days until she and her team pushed for an indefinite ban.
In the end, she recommends that creators seriously consider not attending the convention, as she did not feel “cared for or protected” during this incident, even with the ability to bring her own security, which other creators likely do not have access to.

The statement has been viewed 15 million times and has rallied creators and fans of all stripes against Twitch and how this was handled. In an interview shortly after this with Taylor Lorenz, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy spoke about the incident:

“The safety of our creators is our top priority. The challenge we face is a challenge in our society, it’s not limited to Twitch, it extends beyond throughout our society. I do think that when you’re livestreaming, there are many ways that you can control your community, and you can ban people. You can make it so that those people you don’t want engaging with you aren’t there.”

“Now, what happened yesterday was something we care deeply about, securing this environment, looking very closely at everything that happened there. I care very deeply about Emi, she’s a friend of mine, so I want to see how we can support her. This is just something we have to keep working on…that means there’s always more work to be done, because that’s the world we live in now.”

Clancy goes on to cite “challenges” with security, saying it’s hard when someone is “putting themselves out there.” This is the wake of creators saying that Twitch has them under contract, where they’re not allowed to cancel a meet-and-greet without cancelling a separate show they’re doing.

The story is still ongoing, and what remains unclear is what exactly happened to the man in question outside of him simply being banned, and whether law enforcement has been involved. Regardless, it’s a black mark on a convention that was already unsettling attendees with security concerns. Here is Emiru’s full statement on the matter, to close things out:

“hello everyone, I am okay and thank you for all of the kind messages, sorry I cannot respond to them all

Yesterday, the man who assaulted me was allowed to cross multiple barriers at twitchcon and even in front of another creators meet and greet to grab me and my face and try to kiss me. Fortunately he wasn’t able to, but a lot of people have pointed out it could have been a lot worse!

I’m obviously shaken up by what happened and it’s not the first time I’ve dealt with something like this, but to tell you honestly, I am a lot more hurt and upset by how Twitch handled it during and after the fact.

Like I said, I don’t understand how he was allowed to make it to me in the first place. The security in the clip who reacts is my own security (it’s true my favorite and usual security guard was banned for holding a stalkers arm to bring him to police, at a past Twitchcon)

However, there were at least 3 or 4 other Twitchcon security staff in the area who did not react and let the guy walk away, as you can see in the clip since they don’t even appear in the frame LOL

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.

My friend who was present told me Twitch security were also behind the booth afterwards joking about how they didn’t even see what happened and immediately laughing and moving on to talking about something else.

So if no one was checking if I was okay or if I needed anything and they let the guy run away initially, I have no idea what anyone hired to keep the event safe was doing LOL

In Twitch’s statement they said that the guy was immediately caught and detained, I’m sorry but that 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.

I have a lot more I want to say but I will say it on stream later today instead of writing a book on here.

Thank you guys again, sorry you all had to see that. This is definitely my last Twitchcon, and it saddens me to say as a 10 year off and on attendee of Twitchcon, I think other creators should seriously consider not attending in the future. I did not feel cared for or protected, even bringing my own security and staff. I can’t imagine how creators without those options would feel.

Stay safe y’all, everything is going to be okay

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