Yesterday, streamer Emily ‘Emiru’ Schunk was assaulted at TwitchCon 2025 by a fan, sparking controversy about security at the event. In response, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy sat down with Taylor Lorenz to clear the air, addressing the situation directly.
“The safety of our creators is top priority,” Clancy said in a brief clip pulled from the interview, which will be shared in full on Wednesday. “The challenge we face is a challenge in today’s society. It’s not limited to Twitch; it extends throughout our society. I do think that when you’re livestreaming, in many ways, that you control your community and you can ban people. You can make it so that those people who you don’t want engaging with you and participating with you, aren’t there.”
We’re looking very closely at everything that happened there.
“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. She’s a friend of mine, so I want to see how we can support her.”
Clancy also claimed that Twitch’s trust and safety tools are “leaders of the industry”, but that “challenges” will always present themselves. With how easily the fan was able to reach Emiru, passing through several security gates unabated, many are unconvinced by these assertions.
“None Of The TwitchCon Staff Came To Ask What Happened Or If I Was Okay”
Some have taken his comments on society and the suggestion to “ban people” as deflecting the blame, pointing out that this isn’t a viable solution, given how easy it is for viewers to create alt accounts and continue harassment. Not to mention that banning viewers does little to prevent them from appearing at in-person events like TwitchCon.
Emiru has likewise stressed that she “did not feel cared for or protected”, despite Clancy’s claims to be a close friend and that Twitch is working with streamers to prevent situations such as this.
“I don’t understand how he was allowed to make it to me in the first place,” she said of the fan. “There were at least three or four other TwitchCon security staff in the area who did not react and let the guy walk away […] 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.
“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 it turns out, it was Emiru’s own security who stopped the assault, the same security who were allegedly banned from a prior TwitchCon event after holding a stalker’s arm when bringing him to the police.
In stark contrast to Clancy’s claim of industry-leading security and taking creators’ safety seriously, Emiru urges others to “consider not attending in the future”, because they “did not feel cared for or protected” by TwitchCon staff.
- founded
-
June 6, 2011
- founders
-
Emmett Shear
- number of users
-
2.78 Average Concurrent Users (2021)
