The actor who played Grand Theft Auto 5 co-protagonist Michael De Santa was swatted while streaming GTA Online, but has defended developer Rockstar Games despite fan outcry to the contrary.
Ned Luke received a call while streaming the game on November 23 that informed him his property was currently being swatted.
Swatting is a dangerous harassment technique with ties to video games and streamers in particular in which personal information is obtained and emergency services, usually armed police, are called to the person’s home.
Ned Luke just got swatted live on stream while playing GTA Online…. guys leave @ned_luke alone…. and Ned reach out to me, i can help. pic.twitter.com/1Ia2KVq1wP
— Tylarious (@TylariousYT) November 23, 2023
Fans of Luke were quick to call out Rockstar for its alleged failure to protect players’ IP addresses while playing GTA Online but the actor refuted these claims. “Y’all jumping to some large ass conclusions,” Luke said.
“This had nothing to do with Rockstar. These assholes leaked my private info years ago and have been doing this s**t since. Anyone’s info is available online if you are sick enough to really wanna find it.”
Swatting has been a persistent issue within the streaming community for several years, with the likes of the Fortnite world champion Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf made victim of it aged just 16. The dangers of swatting have unfortunately been made clear, with police killing 28-year-old Andrew Finch as the result of a hoax phone call to emergency services in the United States’ first fatal swatting incident.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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