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With the rise of streamers, some of Hollywood’s younger stars are joining their platforms to promote their latest works. But streaming comes with one major caveat: There’s no editing, and everything gets broadcast to potentially millions.
Michael Rainey Jr. was caught in an extremely disturbing moment that people saw in real-time while he was on TyTy James’ Twitch livestream The Tylil Show amidst a promo run for the final season of Power Book II: Ghost.
In one clip from the stream, James’ sister can be seen coming into the frame and groping Rainey Jr., who looks extremely uncomfortable and peers around the room before appearing to move his hands to cover his privates.
There were three kids in front of Rainey, so whatever James’ sister did was completely blocked from the camera’s view. Rainey reportedly left the streaming about 20 minutes after the incident.
Once clips began to hit the internet, it went viral, and people began chiming in on the unfortunate event. So, Rainey took to Instagram stories to address the situation and acknowledge that he’s still processing the sexual assault, hoping everyone still takes it seriously despite him being a man.
“At this point, everyone has seen the video circulating online. I am still in shock and don’t fully know how to process what happened last night. This is an unfortunate situation that I do not condone in any way. I can’t take it lightly because I know I would be in serious trouble if the roles were reversed,” he writes. “The fact is, sexual assault is never okay, regardless of gender or status. We’re all human, and we should respect each other. Most importantly, we should always respect ourselves.”
James initially tried to excuse his sister’s behavior because she’s not used to being around celebrities, but he soon changed his tune, issuing a statement that read in part, “After the actions that occurred during my stream last night I would like to sincerely apologize to Michael and his family for what took place.”
See how social is reacting to the extremely inappropriate moment below.
