Kai Cenat Returns After Nine-Month Hiatus, Reveals Streamer University 2026 Professors and Students

Kai Cenat returned to livestreaming after a nine-month hiatus and used the broadcast to reveal the professors and students for Streamer University 2026.

“Kai Cenat is back, and he has a new class of Streamer University students in tow”

Complex

The Times of India said the comeback stream drew more than one million people watching live across Twitch and YouTube and hit a maximum of 708,563 concurrent viewers on Twitch, with over 400,000 on YouTube.

Complex

VIBE reported that Cenat made his live-stream return on Tuesday night (July 6) and officially announced the 2026 roster of students and staff on his YouTube and Twitch channels.

VIBE also said Streamer University accepted 120 students for the Class of 2026 and that the 26-person staff includes celebrity friends like Lizzo and T-Pain as professors, club directors, and more.

People added that in its first year, over 200 creators accepted spent four days at the University of Akron and that more than 23 million hours of footage from the event was streamed by people watching from home.

VIBE said Cenat recruited celebrity friends including Lizzo and T-Pain to join the 26-person staff as professors, club directors, and more, while also naming Skai Jackson, Jeremiah Brown, and DreamDoll among the Class of 2026 students.

In VIBE’s coverage of Lizzo’s role, Cenat said, "If y'all don't know, Lizzo be Twitching. She's streaming, and she sent me an application."

Houston Chronicle

VIBE also quoted Cenat welcoming Skai Jackson with, "Now, Skai, you better not be using no AI. I'm going to have to reevaluate her spot—but her application was crazy, though."

People described Streamer University as a weekend-long content creation school hosted on a real-life college campus, the University of Akron in Ohio, in May 2025, and said the session ran from May 22-25.

People further reported that Streamer University is free to attend and that Cenat wrote in reply to his initial X announcement that "Creators will be living on a college campus for FREE" and that housing was included.

Newsweek reported that during Cenat’s livestream revealing students selected for Streamer University, some fans mistakenly believed he had added a social media influencer who was killed last week.

“Popular streamer Kai Cenat issued a clarification during a livestream revealing students selected for his Streamer University program, after some fans mistakenly believed he had added a social media influencer who was tragically killed last week”

Newsweek

Newsweek said Brianna Johnson, known online as DreamDoll Brii, was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in the Miami suburb of Miramar over the Fourth of July weekend, and that Miramar Police said officers responded to Sunshine Boulevard shortly after 5:30 a.m. Sunday following a ShotSpotter alert.

Newsweek quoted Cenat reacting in the moment: "Dreamdoll died? What? No. Dreamdoll died? What you say, Dreamdoll, bro? Oh my God, she just posted eight hours ago. She dead?"

After the confusion, Newsweek said Cenat appeared to realize viewers were referring to the slain influencer rather than the Streamer University applicant he had just announced, and he held up a photo of the accepted creator.

Newsweek also reported that Miramar Police Chief Delrish Moss said, "This is no way to wake up on a Sunday morning; it's a chaotic scene," and that police were still searching for a suspect.