Kai Cenat Resolves Union Square Melee Charges With Apology, Officials Say

The social media superstar known for marathon streaming sessions was charged with inciting a riot after a video game console giveaway erupted in mayhem last summer.

The social media star Kai Cenat will not be prosecuted on charges of inciting a riot in Manhattan after agreeing to post a public apology and paying for the damage caused when thousands of his fans erupted in a chaotic melee in Union Square last summer, officials said on Tuesday.

A spokesman for Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, said prosecutors planned to drop their case against Mr. Cenat and two other men, Denzel Dennis and Muktar Din, in exchange for the apology and $57,000 in restitution.

Mr. Cenat paid $55,000 of the restitution total, which went to the Union Square Partnership to cover landscaping and other costs, the district attorney’s office said. Mr. Dennis and Mr. Din paid the balance.

Mr. Cenat posted the apology on his Snapchat account on Tuesday, and Mr. Bragg’s spokeswoman, M’Niyah Lynn, said the prosecution would be dropped once the apology had been online for 24 hours. Mr. Dennis and Mr. Din were expected to post the apology as well.

Mr. Cenat, noting that he is from New York, wrote in the apology that what began as a promotional event had quickly turned into “an unsafe situation for the people who live and work in the neighborhood, first responders and my followers that attended the event.”

“It was never my intent for it to get so out of hand,” he added, “and I have learned a very valuable lesson that social media is a very powerful tool to do good, but it can also cause dangerous, unwanted situations if it is not used properly.”