The Scariest Real-Life Moments For Twitch Streamers

What exactly does it mean to be a celebrity? The definition has certainly changed with the advent of the internet, where strangers can cross paths without ever meeting face to face, and personalities can develop followings by freely sharing their thoughts, feelings, and works online. Just a few decades ago, the idea that someone could be a video star without being in a movie or TV show would have been unfathomable. Yet here we are, living in an era where a Twitch star like Ninja may be just as well known to a teenager as Brad Pitt.

Unfortunately, the risks associated with being a celebrity are the same no matter where you've made your fame. It doesn't matter if you end your night winning an Oscar or a Victory Royale — if you have a large enough following, you're bound to have some fans who don't understand boundaries, or some detractors who want to cause you pain. And that can put you in danger.

Below, we've assembled a list of Twitch stars who've endured some real-life scary moments. Some have come at the hands of fans. Some as a result of trolls. Let them be a lesson that it doesn't matter what kind of screen you make your living on. If you're well known enough, you can very easily become a target.

Dr. DisRespect is world-renowned for his PUBG play, and his arrogant, energetic persona has earned him millions of fans as a result. But this is a case where the bullets flying in his direction came a little too close to home — literally.

During a stream in September 2018, Dr. DisRespect quickly leapt out of his chair and abandoned his game for reasons unknown. The disruption became more clear once he sat back down and gave his stream viewers the news, breaking character in the process.

"Someone shot at our house," he said. "Broke the f***ing upstairs window. This is the second shot. Somebody shot yesterday at our f***ing house."

And with that, DisRespect's broadcast ended. Various outlets followed up with the police department in the Doc's area after the incident, and the police confirmed that at least two instances of shots being fired at a home were reported, and that the home in question could have been Dr. DisRespect's. Fortunately, no one was hurt. The Doc returned to his normal streaming schedule soon after.

For most people, a knock at the door is no big deal. It could be a neighbor, family member, or friend. It could be a traveling ministry group, asking for a few minutes to talk about your lord and savior. Almost no one expects it to be a stranger from a thousand miles away who's come just to see you, personally.

But that's exactly what happened to Twitch streamer Ellohime.

In December 2015, a knock on Ellohime's door came late at night while he was playing a PC game. Most of his family was asleep. But Ellohime's brother was also staying over, and it was possible a friend was visiting. So the streamer made his way to the front door and heard what sounded like "Hello." Except it wasn't "Hello" at all: it was "Ello." After going to a second-floor window to peek down on the visitor, Ellohime realized that the kid at his door was a fan. And not even a local one.

This fan had traveled from Singapore, hiked 25 miles from the airport to Ellohime's home, and had carted all of his luggage along in the process.

The fan soon left. But he returned the next day, and Ellohime turned to Twitter for advice on what to do. Finally, a fellow Ello fan offered to front the money to help the fan get back to Singapore — a deal he eventually took.

Both Gavin Free and Meg Turney are no strangers to the internet spotlight. Free is a popular member of the Rooster Teeth family. Turney is a prolific Twitch streamer, YouTube creator, and cosplayer. They're aware of both the good and the bad that comes with online fame. But absolutely no one should ever have to deal with the nightmare scenario they lived through back in early 2018.

A man described by police as "single, lonely, and disturbed" had apparently developed an obsession with Meg Turney — one that ran so deep that he felt an immediate animosity toward Gavin Free. The man arrived at the couple's home on the morning of Jan. 26 with the apparent intention of killing Free, invading the home with a handgun while both Free and Turney hid in a closet. The couple called 911 and, once police arrived on the scene about ten minutes later, the intruder had taken his own life.

Free later posted on Twitter to thank his and Turney's fans for their support, stating, "It's been a rough time for Meg and myself the last few weeks but we are doing ok."

The act of swatting — faking a police call about a dangerous incident involving a streamer — is a huge problem on Twitch. Many streamers do their best to keep their locations private from their communities. But every once in a while, someone lands on the home address of a popular Twitch broadcaster. And when someone decides to do harm with that information, lives are at stake.

Twitch streamer Joshua Peters — better known as Koopa — knows that better than almost anyone.

Koopa was playing RuneScape for around 60,000 fans when his mother interrupted him to let him know that police officers were in the home. Koopa removed his headset and left the room for several minutes. Upon returning, he told his viewers that his home had been swatted, and that one of his younger brothers had answered the door for the officers on the other side.

"I had police point a gun at my little brothers because of you," Koopa told his stream, targeting his message toward whoever had initiated the call. "They could have been shot, they could have died because you chose to SWAT my stream."

Thankfully, the situation diffused without anyone getting hurt.

There have been rivalries between Twitch streamers in the past — such as the one between Dr. DisRespect and Tyler1. But none have ever reached the level of becoming potentially dangerous. There were words exchanged, sure. Fans of one streamer certainly went to battle online against fans of another. But none of that ever spilled over into the real world.

That wasn't the case with CJayride, an American Twitch streamer based in Taiwan. And what made his situation stranger yet — he held no ill will toward his opposition at the start.

It all started one night when CJayride, a streamer in the IRL category, broadcasted himself in a hot tub with several friends. A misunderstanding with emotes angered many Taiwanese viewers, who felt CJayride and his friends were disrespecting Taiwanese women. Once a popular Taiwanese streamer — known as CK — caught wind of the supposed disrespect, he publicly called out CJayride for his actions.

CJayride was banned from Twitch for several days due to the misunderstanding. But things got worse. Fans of CK began to stalk CJayride on Facebook and in real life, tracking his whereabouts and even taking photos of him from afar.

That was in early February 2018. And there's no sign the situation has cooled down since.

Not every incident of swatting takes place at a home. Some happen in other places, due to a stream viewer recognizing the streamer's location, or the streamer sharing the location him- or herself.

How the swatter of Ice_Poseidon knew where he was is anyone's guess. But the caller's actions got the streamer kicked off an airplane.

In early 2017, Ice_Poseidon was seated for a flight when a bomb threat was called into police. The caller said he was Ice_Poseidon, and police felt they had no choice but to act. The flight was grounded and the streamer was removed from the airplane.

Amazingly, that wasn't the first incident of swatting that Ice_Poseidon fell victim to. He was apparently swatted earlier that same month at home. But that incident didn't affect him nearly as much as the one on the plane.

"You swat my house, whatever, f*** you," he said. "You swat a plane? That's a whole other level. You don't expect that to happen."

The sounds of gunfire aren't all that uncommon when playing video games. If you're playing a first-person shooter, for example, you might not be startled by the sound of a gun at all. You might just assume the audio is coming from the game and continue on as normal.

But streamer IMissedMyQ knew better. He was deep into a League of Legends match when he heard six shots ring out. And he immediately dropped to the floor before running out of the room.

The gunfire, as it turns out, did not come from his League game. A gunfight had broken out between neighbors nearby, scaring IMissedMyQ and, likely, the whole neighborhood in the process. He promptly cut the broadcast off soon after, tweeting later, "Had to cut my stream off early tonight since my neighbors had a gunfight #unlucky."

IMissedMyQ didn't appear to be hurt from the incident, and he didn't share news about any other injuries, either.

Imagine streaming a game one night and getting a little too rowdy. It happens sometimes. Now imagine that you're a little too rowdy, and your neighbors think you're too loud. They knock on your door to complain. That seems pretty normal.

That's streamer MrBig's story so far. But it gets real bizarre from there.

Rather than apologize for the noise, MrBig responded to the complaints by saying, "I will scream freedom all night long." So his neighbors called the police. About an hour later, the cops showed up, and, when asked his name, MrBig answered with, "My last name is America."

He was arrested soon after — his Twitch stream still running. But the story gets even weirder!

Later in the evening, a neighbor entered MrBig's home and stole, according to The Verge, his "shoes, headphones, cellphone, lighter, and wallet."

Thanks to Twitch footage of the incident, the neighbor was caught. MrBig's belongings were returned to him.

Jaryd "Summit1g" Lazar is a former professional gamer and popular Twitch streamer. He has fans all over. Unfortunately, though, he also has a few haters. And those non-fans wasted no time messing with him once they realized he was out and about in public streaming Pokemon Go.

Someone put a call in to police claiming that a man inside the park was carrying an "AK-47 or an AR" and had "planted remote bombs in the park and wanted to kill cops." And police focused on Summit.

After some back and forth with the police, Summit explained the situation to them. He was streaming a game on Twitch, and swatting was a typical prank pulled on popular streamers. And, in fact, someone in his chat had hopped in to tell everyone that something important was about to happen. That was likely the culprit.

Summit didn't mince words after the incident.

"It's always got to be some type of dickbag on Twitch," he said. "Literally all they're doing is making cops waste their resources and putting people in danger."

There's always a real danger involved with Twitch streaming in public. For instance, someone viewing the stream could identify a landmark, nail down your location, and somehow find you. There's also the swatting risk, as both Ice_Poseidon and Summit1g found out. But there's also the prospect that a total stranger could act like a weirdo.

That's what MrsKittyNinja came face to face with while she was broadcasting an IRL stream out in public.

MrsKittyNinja struck up a conversation with a homeless man on the street. It's not uncommon for IRL streamers to do sort of "man on the street" chats, speaking with someone for a few minutes before moving on to the next individual. But this particular situation was strange right off the bat. He told MrsKittyNinja that he wanted to "tickle" her. And as she tried to walk away, the man continued to show up, trailing her and trying to talk to her.

She was eventually forced to run down the street and duck into a nearby building to escape.