Twitch creators warn other women after 'stalker' threatens to kill them during live video stream

Sky News

04-03-2025

Three Twitch creators have issued a warning to others on the platform after a "stalker" followed and then threatened to kill them during a live video stream.
Cinna, Valkyrae and Emiru, who have more than 3.6 million Twitch followers between them, were filming as part of a week-long marathon stream event they called "Sisathon" on Sunday night.
The livestream showed them walking towards Pacific Park on Santa Monica Pier, California, when they were approached by a man in a grey hoodie who said his name was Russell.
He stopped them and asked for a photo before Cinna, 28, said: "Yeah of course."
The man then asked if he can "hang out with them" before the Twitch streamer, whose real name is Brittany Lynn Watts, said they can't because they are on a "time limit".
The women then continued walking into the amusement park before the man appeared to head off in the other direction.
However, around 20 minutes later, the livestream showed the moment the women walked past the same man, who was now wearing different clothes, as he was crouched down next to one of the rides.
The Twitch streamers looked concern as the man asked Emiru, whose real name is Emily Schunk, for her phone number.
The 27-year-old quickly replied that she didn't have a phone before the man told the group: "I'm going to keep following her (Emiru)."
The women then walked off before looking frightened when he caught up with them minutes later.
The man was off-camera as Cinna said "get away from her" and stood between him and Emiru.
Valkyrae, whose real name is Rachell Marie Hofstetter, then started calling for security before the women screamed as the man ran towards them and shouted: "I'll kill you right now, I'll kill you right now."
The Twitch streamers then fled from the park before the video cut out.
In a separate video posted on Cinna's Twitch account on Monday, the streamer and Valkyrae gave a lengthy account of their ordeal.
Cinna told her followers: "We are very much in shock and we need you guys to know, that clip does not do it justice for how scary it was."
She added that Emiru is "safe" but needs time to "process it and stuff".
"It is an attempt on our life and we are taking it very seriously," Cinna told her followers.
She continued: "He said he was going to kill us, he kept trying to get something out of his pocket. We had to run into a store screaming that somebody was going to kill us."
Cinna added: "For those of you who don't know, we know he's a stalker. When he was behind us, he pulled up Emmy's TikToks."
Valkyrae posted on X after the ordeal that they were "OK" and had been with the police.
She also shared a post criticising people who accused the women of staging what happened.
Valkyrae wrote on X: "I hope other women and streamers learn from seeing this interaction and also be aware that this can happen to anybody."
Meanwhile, Emiru said in a post on X on Monday: "I wish I could say this was some kind of one in a million incident, but the truth is, it is not. This is what life is like for girls. I hope if anything, people see what happened and realize how much of a reality it is for women and content creators as a whole."
Santa Monica Police is said to have carried out a search for the suspect but were unable to find him.
The force has reportedly said it is "aware of the video footage" and is "reviewing the information that has been shared publicly".