One of Twitch's more popular streamers, Emiru, issued a public statement after she was assaulted during her TwitchCon meet-and-greet this past weekend. Emiru's statement lambasts the official Twitch response that was issued concerning the assault, with her remarks calling elements of Twitch's statement "a blatant lie."
The assault was captured on video. In the clip, we see a man bypass several event barriers as he bee-lines towards Emiru. He then grabs Emiru's face in an attempt to kiss her before one of her personal security pushed the assailant away. The man was then seen freely walking away immediately after being shoved by Emiru's personal security.
In Twitch's official statement, the company says that the assailant was "immediately" removed and banned from the venue. Emiru says that this is untrue, stating that any punitive actions were delayed, adding that none of the Twitch staff intervened nor checked on her well-being after the assault took place.
The safety and security of all those attending TwitchCon is our highest priority. The behavior displayed by the individual involved in the incident yesterday involving a high profile streamer was completely unacceptable and deeply upsetting.
In line with existing TwitchCon security protocols, law enforcement and event security were on site and responded to the incident. We immediately blocked this individual from returning to the TwitchCon premises, and they are banned indefinitely from Twitch, both online and in-person events. We are coordinating with the impacted creator’s team and, per our standard protocols, continue to cooperate with any law enforcement investigations.
We have increased security at the Meet & Greet attendee check-in point and will have additional security personnel surrounding participating streamers. If you’ve RSVPed for a Meet & Greet, please note that we are unable to accommodate +1s for the remainder of the event.
Twitch has zero tolerance for harassment or acts that inhibit the safety and security of our community.
In line with existing TwitchCon security protocols, law enforcement and event security were on site and responded to the incident. We immediately blocked this individual from returning to the TwitchCon premises, and they are banned indefinitely from Twitch, both online and in-person events. We are coordinating with the impacted creator’s team and, per our standard protocols, continue to cooperate with any law enforcement investigations.
We have increased security at the Meet & Greet attendee check-in point and will have additional security personnel surrounding participating streamers. If you’ve RSVPed for a Meet & Greet, please note that we are unable to accommodate +1s for the remainder of the event.
Twitch has zero tolerance for harassment or acts that inhibit the safety and security of our community.
Emiru says that the man was allowed to cross multiple barriers without being stopped. In Emiru's statement, she says she feels "shaken" from what happened as well as "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.(...)
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.
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.(...)
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.
As for Twitch's response, it actually gets a little worse than what was said in the statements. Initially, the response from Twitch was to suspend the assailant's Twitch account for just 30 days. That's right, a 30-day suspension was the first course of action from Twitch and not getting the authorities involved nor even permanently banning the assailant from the website.
Even prior to TwitchCon, several other streamers, including Valkyrae and QTCinderella, announced that they would not be attending this year's event. They expressed concern over the risks female streamers face in public spaces such as at TwitchCon. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy previously and repeatedly said that they had improved safety protocols and that they "take security at our events, like TwitchCon, extremely seriously."
It's hard not to view Clancy's statement as a lie given what happened to Emiru just this past weekend.
*Emiru's "favorite and usual security guard" is reportedly banned from TwitchCon events after apprehending a stalker, grabbing the stalker's arm, and escorting them to authorities at a previous event. The enforcement of Twitch's safety policy is again an absolute joke when a person hired for security is immediately banned from future events but someone who bypasses security and assaults a streamer is allowed to just walk away and (initially) receive just a 30-day suspension from the website.
