Streamers are often the target of various pranks at the behest of their viewers. A popular prank often performed at the expense of streamers is swatting. In this prank, the prankster calls the police and other relevant authorities in an attempt to get them to storm the streamer's residence by making up some false emergencies.
The prank's origins lie in the 70s and 80s when fans of writers and pop stars would give out their P/O box numbers for fans to write to them and fans would call the police on them as a prank.
This article discusses streamers who have recently gotten swatted.
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Streamers who got swatted while they were live
1) Bugha
Bugha, winner of the 2019 Fortnite World Cup, got swatted while he was scrimming with other pro players. The prankster had called the local police and claimed that Kyle, aka Bugha, had shot his father. As the streamer was celebrating a kill, armed officers stepped into his room with their guns drawn. Thankfully, one of the officers recognized the streamer and de-escalated the situation.
(Read more about the incident here)
2) Clix
Clix was playing in a Fortnite tournament when he became the victim of swatting by what is presumed to be a SWAT team. It is unknown what the prankster told the authorities for them to deploy a SWAT team, but the streamer, who was 15 at the time, was visibly terrified by the incident:
"I'm shaking they have ARs." (assault rifles)
Clix has been swatted three times now with the first instance of it happening back in 2019. As he is one of the youngest streamers on this list, this was a matter of great concern for many members of the community and law enforcement.
(Read more about the incident here)
3) Tfue
Tfue is one of the biggest victims of swatting. The variety streamer was last swatted while he was playing Minecraft. The streamer was responding to the chat when a person outside the field of view of the camera, possibly the police officer, said:
"Come out with your hands up."
No stranger to getting swatted, Tfue left his desk and complied, and returned some time later sipped his drink and chuckled. Afterwards, someone, maybe the prankster, said "get swatted" in the chat but Tfue did not reply to the person in any way and laughed off the incident.
His nonchalance was equally celebrated and questioned by fellow streamers.
(Read more about the incident here)
4) Dellor
Dellor was the victim of one of the more serious incidences of swatting among streamers. He was just starting a casual stream when multiple assault rifle wielding men entered his streaming room and cuffed him. The streamer turned off the camera and mic so the footage of the actual swatting is unavailable but in a later stream, he seemed to be rightfully angry about the incident:
"That was the scariest experience of my f*cking life. That's really funny dudes, really funny, really cool. Just would've got shot. I just had 15 dudes with automatic rifles aiming flashlights at me holy s*it".
5) ImperialHal
One of the biggest Apex Legends streamers, Philip Dosen, aka ImperialHal, was met with an unpleasant surprise when armed policemen entered his home while he was starting a stream. He talked them down while his teammates went into a frenzy about the danger their friend was facing. Thankfully, Philip's calm demeanor worked wonders for him outside the game as well and he was able to handle the situation calmly.
Swatting is largely considered to be an extremely dangerous and wasteful prank, as the possibility of anything untoward happening is very high when there are live firearms involved. Most streamers who have been victims of swatting or while discussing an incident of the same have urged their viewers not to perform such pranks.
Note: This article reflects the views of the author
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