Twitch Chief Executive Officer Dan Clancy has apologized for the failings that led to Emily Beth Schunk, better known as Emiru, being assaulted during TwitchCon 2025. The apology was part of a broader statement that was unusually blunt for this type of communication, and also outlined some additional measures Twitch is implementing to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Emiru was assaulted on the first day of the 2025 TwitchCon, held in San Diego, when a man crashed her meet-and-greet, grabbed her by the head and attempted to kiss her. Her personal security guard prevented the situation from escalating further, but official event security did not intervene. Twitch claimed the individual was immediately caught and blocked from returning to the event's premises. Emiru called this "a blatant lie," saying he was allowed to walk away from the event after the assault. "I didn't hear he was caught until hours after he attacked me," the streamer wrote on X.
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Twitch CEO Apologizes for Emiru Assault Response
On October 24, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy issued a statement apologizing for the ordeal and everything that followed. "We failed, both in allowing it to occur, and in our response following," the executive wrote. Clancy did not elaborate further, opting not to dissect Twitch's initial comments on the Emiru assault and instead focusing on forward-looking statements.
The executive said that Twitch started "a complete analysis" of the October 17 incident, as well as a review of other issues that were brought to its attention following the convention. Everything from the event layout and security controls to meet-and-greet sign-ups are being examined as part of this process, Clancy said, adding that the company takes its responsibility to keep attendees safe "seriously." Fan reactions to the apology appear to skew negative, with some vocal social media users calling the statement vague and non-committal.
What's less vague is Clancy's apparent admission of fault. In California, where TwitchCon 2025 took place, so-called "apology laws" generally render expressions of sympathy inadmissible in court but do not extend the same protection to statements of fault. "We failed" more closely resembles an admission than a neutral expression of regret, with legal counsel typically advising language such as "we did not meet our standards" to avoid potential claims of negligence. Emiru is already pressing charges against the TwitchCon assailant but has not indicated any intent to pursue legal action against Twitch itself.
We failed, both in allowing it to occur, and in our response following.
TwitchCon security has long been scrutinized by content creators, with several streamers publicly bowing out of the 2025 iteration of the event because they weren't satisfied with the organizers' safety guarantees. Several years ago, one of Emiru's personal security guards was banned from TwitchCon because he held a stalker’s arm to bring him to police, as per the streamer's own account of the episode. That experience may have influenced the actions of her other personal guard during the TwitchCon 2025 incident, who intervened to separate the assailant from Emiru but did not attempt to detain him afterward.