The actor behind GTA 5 protagonist Michael De Santa has reportedly been swatted while trying to stream GTA Online.
In the middle of a recent stream and subsequent clips floating around online, Ned Luke is seen looking through some GTA Online leaderboards while interacting with their chat. Things take a turn when Luke's phone goes off, prompting him to answer. After some back and forth, the actor informs viewers that he has to cut the stream short as someone has 'swatted' their house.
🤷🏼 pic.twitter.com/FJYCmLmR74November 23, 2023
Following the incident, several fans watching the stream and beyond have tweeted Luke directly to wish him well.
Swatting has, unfortunately, been far from a rare sight online. It's a dangerous and illegal prank that sees a person file a serious report to a police department in an effort to get a SWAT team or other law enforcement officers deployed to a specific location – typically someone's residence; it's a distressing incident for participants, and has even led to death in the past.
Celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Rhianna are some high-profile examples of swatting over the years, though the present nature of streaming makes it more common than it should be for streamers on Twitch and beyond. Stories of that ilk haven't been far from headlines following an incident in 2017 over a Call of Duty match that sadly led to the death of a 28-year-old man.
Since then, more states have made the prank a felony, though laws remain hard to enforce due to how easy it is for bad actors to use software to spoof IP addresses and phone numbers.
GTA 6 has been officially announced, with a trailer coming next month.
