On the first day of TwitchCon 2025, popular cosplayer, YouTuber, and Twitch streamer Emiru — who has nearly two million followers — was seemingly assaulted during a meet-and-greet event on Friday, Oct. 17.
In a video posted to X, an individual can be seen approaching Emiru, grabbing her, and appearing to lean in for a kiss. Emiru pushed the person away before security intervened, pulling the individual away by the arm. According to reports on X, Emiru returned to the meet-and-greet and completed the event. The video, which was posted at 8:21 p.m. EST, already has nearly 400,000 views.
“So some freak just assaulted Emiru at @TwitchCon. This behavior is fucking disgusting. I’m amazed that she still came back to finish the meet-and-greet line — honestly, she deserves the utmost respect. THIS HAS TO STOP!!!” the original post reads.
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Twitch responded to the incident with a statement to Mashable, emphasizing its commitment to attendee safety:
“The safety and security of all those attending TwitchCon is our highest priority,” a Twitch spokesperson said. “The behavior displayed by the individual involved in this incident was completely unacceptable and deeply upsetting. We immediately removed this individual from TwitchCon premises, and they are banned indefinitely from Twitch, both online and in-person events. Twitch has zero tolerance for harassment.”
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Just hours before the incident, Mary Kish, the head of community at Twitch, told Mashable that “it’s important to educate all streamers” about the pervasiveness of harassment, particularly against women. She said it’s essential to “make these spaces safe.”
“I wouldn’t encourage women to be streamers if I felt like it wasn’t safe for us. We have to continue to be really aggressive in that space and be at the forefront of it,” she said, adding that safety measures like connecting phones to accounts to ward off online harassment and ensuring that banned accounts can’t watch a stream have helped to “prevent someone who’s aggressively following someone from just straight-up making another account.”
This isn’t the first time TwitchCon has faced criticism over attendee safety. Streamers Valkyrae and QTCinderella notably pulled out of this year’s event, expressing deep anxiety about the risks female streamers face in public spaces like TwitchCon. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has repeatedly promised improved safety protocols, stating that “we take security at our events, like TwitchCon, extremely seriously.” Still, in 2024, Kick-affiliated streamers disrupted the event, harassing Twitch streamers on-site.
For Emiru, this is the second high-profile harassment incident in recent months. In March, while livestreaming in Santa Monica with streamers Cinna and Valkyrae, a man reportedly threatened to kill them, according to a report from the BBC.
Additional reporting by Crystal Bell.
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