Twitch CEO Dan Clancy apologizes for TwitchCon assault of Emiru and his interview comments on the incident: 'We failed, both in allowing it to occur, and in our response following'

In response to the assault of streamer Emiru at last weekend's TwitchCon, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has issued an apology from the streaming platform's official account on X (formerly Twitter). Clancy apologized for security lapses, and promised improvements at future events. He also expressed regret for his prior comments about the incident, seemingly referring to an interview with Taylor Lorenz at the convention.

"First, I want to be upfront and take accountability for the security incident that occurred during Emiru’s Meet and Greet," Clancy said in the official statement. "It shouldn’t have happened and we take that very seriously. We failed, both in allowing it to occur, and in our response following. We mismanaged our communications about the incident, and that includes the comments I made. I apologize to Emiru for all that took place."

Clancy promised that Twitch would conduct a formal analysis of the incident, as well as a review of TwitchCon's security as a whole. The CEO also said that the company would look into stricter rules on IRL streaming⁠—man on the street-style content with a mobile setup⁠—at the event, as well as a review of accessibility for future events.

Clancy's allusion to his own prior comments is likely in reference to what he said in his interview with Lorenz, held at the convention but uploaded a few days later on Wednesday, October 22. The interview touched on a host of topics, including free speech, viewership, and demographics on the streaming platform, but Lorenz also asked Clancy about the assault of Emiru.

While Clancy said that "What happened yesterday obviously was something that we care deeply about," professed his friendship with Emiru, and promised a review of security, he defended Twitch's trust and safety practices, and also argued that the incident was part of a wider social trend beyond Twitch. Some commenters also interpreted him as saying it was Emiru's responsibility to remove threatening viewers from her community to prevent incidents like this.

"The challenge we face is a challenge in today's society, it's not limited to Twitch, it extends throughout our society," Clancy told Lorenz. "I do think that when you're livestreaming, in many ways, since you control your community and can ban people, you can make it so that those people you don't want engaging with you and participating with you aren't there.

"The reality is that, even as you do a lot in terms of security, in today's world, there are challenges that can present themselves, especially when someone is putting themselves out there. We try to work very closely with each creator about what they want to do, and works for them."

That final statement touches on an aspect of the incident not addressed in Clancy's apology: Emiru alleged prior to the meet and great that she did not want to hold the event due to security concerns, but had to go through with it, as it was contractually obligated to hold a show later at the convention.

Emiru has not yet made a public response to the apology or Clancy's interview at the time of writing, and commenters remain critical of and unsatisfied with Twitch's official response. The platform's safety policies, streamers' trust in them, and the future of its in-person convention are all still part of a developing story.