On the first day of TwitchCon 2025, popular cosplayer, YouTuber, and Twitch streamer Emiru – who has nearly two million followers – was attacked during a meet-and-greet event on Friday, October 17.
In a video posted on Twitter, a man can be seen approaching Emiru, grabbing him and leaning in for a kiss. Emiru pushed the man away before security intervened, grabbing the man’s hand and pulling him away. According to X reports, Emiru returned for the meet and greet and completed the event. The video, which was posted at 8:21 p.m. EST, has already been viewed nearly 400,000 times.
“So some freak attacked Emiru at @TwitchCon. This behavior is disgusting. I’m surprised she even came back to finish the meet-and-greet line – honestly, she deserves the utmost respect. It has to stop!!!” reads the original post.
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Twitch responded to the incident by providing a statement to Mashable, emphasizing its commitment to attendee safety:
“The safety of everyone attending TwitchCon is our top priority,” a Twitch spokesperson said. “The behavior displayed by the individual involved in this incident was completely unacceptable and extremely disturbing. We immediately removed this individual from TwitchCon premises, and he has been indefinitely banned from Twitch both online and at in-person events. Twitch has zero tolerance for harassment.”
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Hours before the event, Mary Kish, head of community at Twitch, told Mashable that “it is important to educate all streamers” about the prevalence of harassment, especially against women. He said it was necessary to “make these places safe”.
She said, “I wouldn’t encourage women to become streamers if I felt it wasn’t safe for us. We have to be really aggressive in that area and be at the forefront of it.” He said security measures like linking accounts to phones to avoid online harassment and making sure restricted accounts can’t view a stream have helped “stop someone who is aggressively stalking someone from directly creating another account.”
This isn’t the first time TwitchCon has faced criticism over attendee safety. Streamers Valkyre and QTCinderella in particular withdrew from this year’s event, expressing deep concern about the risks faced by female streamers in public spaces like TwitchCon. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has repeatedly promised improved security protocols, stating “We take security at our events like TwitchCon extremely seriously.” Nevertheless, in 2024, Kik-affiliated streamers disrupted the event, harassing Twitch streamers on the site.
For Emiru, this is the second high-profile harassment incident in recent months. In March, while livestreaming with streamers Cinna and Valkyre in Santa Monica, a man allegedly threatened to kill them, according to a BBC report.
Additional reporting by Crystal Bell,
