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Gottfried v. Night Media: live updates from the SDNY case
Rolling coverage of Gottfried v. Night Media, Inc. et al., filed in the Southern District of New York over the Manhattan auditions for Streamer University season two.
U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y. Docket number to be added here once confirmed from the filing.
What to know
- Caleb Gottfried, who records as SNVRK, is the plaintiff. The case is Gottfried v. Night Media, Inc. et al., in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
- Named defendants include Night Media and Kai Cenat LLC.
- Gottfried was granted in forma pauperis status by Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain. The case was assigned to District Judge Dale E. Ho, with general pretrial matters referred to Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger.
- The complaint concerns crowd safety and right of publicity arising from the June 12, 2026 in-person auditions for Streamer University season two, held at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.
- Nothing below has been decided. Allegations in a complaint are allegations, and the defendants have not been found liable for anything.
Disclosure. SNVRKOTICS is a party to this matter. This page is our own account of it and is not independent reporting.
Context on the event series
The Manhattan auditions were one of several large public gatherings organised around Cenat's projects. A gathering he promoted in Union Square in August 2023 ended in arrests and charges after the crowd exceeded what the space could hold. A separate Streamer University audition event at State Farm Arena in June 2026 was reported to have been shut down by local authorities over safety concerns. Neither is part of this case, and neither establishes anything about what happened at John Jay — they are included because the complaint's crowd-safety theory is about foreseeability, and readers are entitled to judge that for themselves.
Procedural posture
Gottfried filed without counsel and was granted in forma pauperis status by Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain, which allows a case to proceed without payment of the filing fee. The matter was then assigned to District Judge Dale E. Ho, and general pretrial matters were referred to Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger. None of that is a ruling on the merits: an IFP grant addresses ability to pay, not whether a claim is good.
What the case is about
The complaint arises from the in-person auditions for the second season of Streamer University, the creator bootcamp run by live-streamer Kai Cenat, held on 12 June 2026 at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. The event was free and drew a large crowd of aspiring creators, some of whom — Gottfried among them — queued overnight. Gottfried alleges that the crowd conditions at the venue, and the use of his likeness in connection with the event, give rise to claims for crowd safety and right of publicity. Night Media and Kai Cenat LLC have not responded to those allegations here.