Twitch CEO admits it "failed" after TwitchCon streamer assault, "both in allowing it to occur, and in our response"
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has admitted the company “failed” by both allowing streamer Emiru to be physically assaulted at TwitchCon last weekend, and “in our response following”.
Last weekend, streamer Emiru was assaulted at a TwitchCon Meet and Greet after a man crossed multiple barriers to grab her face and try to kiss her. A viral video that caught the incident suggests TwitchCon’s own staff did not prevent the incident from occurring, nor “came to ask what happened or if I was okay” in the immediate aftermath.
In Twitch’s initial response, it said “the safety and security of all those attending TwitchCon is our highest priority”, and called the behaviour of the man who pushed past the queue to grab Emiru and kiss her “completely unacceptable and deeply upsetting”. It then revealed it had “blocked this individual from returning to the TwitchCon premises, and they are banned indefinitely from Twitch, both online and in-person events”.
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…
— emi ⭐️ (@emiru) October 18, 2025
To see this content please enable targeting cookies.
Emiru disputed this version of events, however, saying, “Twitch’s statement they said that the guy was immediately caught and detained [was] 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 added, later confirming she was pressing charges.
In the days following the incident, Clancy was criticised for a video interview in which he said, “the challenge we face is a challenge in today’s society. It’s not limited to Twitch, it extends throughout our society.
“Now, what happened yesterday, obviously, was something that we care deeply about securing this environment. We’re looking very closely at everything that happened there, and I care deeply about Emi,” he added. “She’s a friend of mine, and so I want to see how we can support her. This is just something we have to keep working on. I think everyone identifies our tools in terms of trust and safety as the leaders in the industry about helping creators, but that means there’s always more work to be done, because that’s the world we live in now.”
First, I want to be upfront and take accountability for the security incident that occurred during Emiru’s Meet and Greet. It shouldn’t have happened and we take that very seriously. We failed, both in allowing it to occur, and in our response following. We mismanaged our…
— Twitch (@Twitch) October 24, 2025
To see this content please enable targeting cookies.
Now, in a fresh statement, Clancy said he “want[s] to be upfront and take accountability for the security incident that occurred during Emiru’s Meet and Greet”, saying, “it shouldn’t have happened and we take that very seriously”.
“We failed, both in allowing it to occur, and in our response following. We mismanaged our communications about the incident, and that includes the comments I made. I apologise to Emiru for all that took place.”
Looking ahead, Twitch is now investigating “everything” about how they run Meet and Greets, “from sign-ups to the layout to increased security controls”. This includes a review of its teams, production and venue staff, so it is “better equipped” for future events”.
