If you're at all familiar with YouTube and streaming stars from the 2010s and beyond, RiceGum must be an important name for you. After all, for all of his controversies, beefs, and the clowning he received online, many would say that he was actually a very influential content creator. The Las Vegas native, of Vietnamese and Chinese descent, was making rap diss tracks against his peers at the peak of their Internet hype. One could say that he was among the first to popularize them for better or worse, leading to the chaotic, often scrutinized, but always eye-catching landscape we see today.
Unfortunately for the 26-year-old, it looks like he recently fell victim to a dangerous and years-long trend in content streaming: swatting. For those unaware, this is when someone falsely calls the police on a streamer so that they can interrupt their stream and land them in some trouble. In fact, it's not exclusive to the YouTube and content creator world; it can happen to anyone. In this particular instance, RiceGum was streaming while eating in his car, and law enforcement officials approached him and asked him to step out of his vehicle.
RiceGum Swatted: Watch
For him and many other influencers online, this has been a malicious plague that's resulted in lives at risk and a logistical and legal headache to deal with. RiceGum won't be the last YouTuber and streamer to face swatting, sadly, as the trend continued for about a decade at this point. Despite best efforts from lawmakers and police authorities to mitigate it, they proved to be much more difficult to implement. Even huge superstars like Nicki Minaj suffered swatting attacks in the past- quite recently, actually.
As such, it's clear that this behavior will most likely continue to affect content creators, streamers, and celebrities. Hopefully this becomes one of the last high-profile instances of it, especially as beef between influencers is more common than ever. They have enough on their plate to deal with. On that note, stay posted on HNHH for more on RiceGum and other streaming personalities.