GTA 5 Actor Ned Luke Swatted During Thanksgiving Livestream

Grand Theft Auto V actor Ned Luke was swatted during a recent livestream. Streaming has become a really big part of culture and social media, allowing everyday people to make a career out of entertaining people and playing video games. Those who are streaming out of their bedrooms with nothing more than a webcam and a decent computer are rivaling big television broadcasts. It’s a great way to build a community and connect with people. It has also been used for people who are already established to connect with their fans. Grand Theft Auto actor Ned Luke has been playing Grand Theft Auto V for fans for the game’s 10 year anniversary and frequently plays with fans on GTA Online. The actor is best known for his role as Michael in Grand Theft Auto V and has spent the last handful of years making the rounds at conventions, doing live streams answering fan questions, and more.

The actor was playing GTA Online during Thanksgiving and was unfortunately cut short when he was called by someone in his home notifying him that the police had arrived outside. This is a common method of harassment toward public figures called Swatting. Unfortunately, people are able to gain the addresses of these people as they are live stream and will make an anonymous phone call to their local police department and tell them there’s a severe situation that requires a heavy police presence. Typically, this results in the police showing up in mass with ARs and other heavy weaponry and can even result in people’s doors being kicked down. This has led to people dying in the past and is an incredibly serious offense.

Just earlier this week, streamer IShowSpeed was swatted for the second time in a row at his brand new house. This has been a frequent issue in the streaming community for years. Some streamers are able to get whitelisted with their local police departments to ensure there is a way to prevent swatting, but it still isn’t fool proof. Some have demanded more protection and even legislation to make this a more punishable act, but nothing concrete has come of it thus far.