TwitchCon 2025, the largest festival of the year for streamers, faced a serious incident when Emiru – a globally renowned female streamer and cosplayer, was unexpectedly groped by a man who jumped the barrier, attempting to kiss her in front of fans. Not only the incident itself but also the way TwitchCon’s organizers handled it has enraged the online community.
Emiru (real name Emily Schunk) is one of the most prominent faces in the Twitch community today. She has over 1.9 million followers on Twitch, 1.1 million followers on Instagram, and 800,000 followers on X. Not only is she known for her friendly and natural speaking style, but Emiru is also celebrated for her youthful appearance, large round eyes, and anime-inspired fashion sense, leading fans to refer to her as a “real-life anime girl.”
As a professional cosplayer, Emiru often appears in various intricate costumes based on characters from League of Legends, Genshin Impact, or Re:Zero. Additionally, she is a member of OTK (One True King), one of the most influential streamer organizations in the U.S. With a charming and approachable image, Emiru has become a symbol of the “streamer cosplayer” field, blending entertainment with visual art.
However, the recent TwitchCon event has turned into a nightmare for Emiru. During a meet & greet session, a man unexpectedly breached multiple security barriers, approached her, and attempted to kiss her in front of a crowd.
She shared on X the following morning:
“The man who attacked me was allowed to breach multiple barriers and even stood right in front of another creator’s meet & greet area to touch my face and attempt to kiss me. Fortunately, he did not succeed, but it could have been much worse.”
According to Emiru, it was her personal security team that responded first, not the TwitchCon security staff. What shocked her even more was that 3-4 event security personnel nearby stood still, not intervening, and even allowed the attacker to leave freely.
After the incident, Twitch issued a statement that “the suspect was apprehended immediately and did not harm anyone.” However, Emiru vehemently rebutted this claim, calling it “a blatant lie”: “I did not hear about him being arrested until several hours later – and that only happened because my manager kept insisting. Meanwhile, the TwitchCon security backstage was joking and laughing as if nothing had happened.”
Emiru also expressed her profound loss of trust in Twitch after ten years of association, asserting that this would be her last time attending TwitchCon: “I did not feel protected, even with my security team present. I cannot imagine what creators without resources like mine will face. This will definitely be my last TwitchCon.”
After Emiru’s post went viral, hundreds of thousands of comments and shares expressed outrage over TwitchCon’s security measures. Many fans argued that allowing a stranger to breach multiple layers of security to reach a famous streamer is “extremely dangerous,” especially in the context of increasing harassment of female streamers.
Some people even recalled a past incident where Emiru’s close bodyguard was banned from attending TwitchCon simply for holding onto a stalker to hand them over to the police. This raised questions: Who is Twitch protecting – the streamer or the harasser?
Emiru’s incident has sparked a significant debate about safety at Twitch events. While the female streamer has declared she will never return, many other creators are considering boycotting TwitchCon until the platform implements more effective protective measures for participants.
The incident serves not only as a wake-up call about the safety of female content creators but also reflects the vast gap between the “friendly, fun” image Twitch promotes and the cold reality of its organizational practices.
As Emiru wrote in her final post: “I feel heartbroken to say this, but everyone please be careful. I hope no one has to go through what I experienced.”