An 81-Year-Old Grandma Streaming Minecraft Was Just Swatted

Close

Close

By

Sam Woods

Published May 20, 2026, 3:05 AM EDT

Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer.

Since 2020, Sam has written over 2,500 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game.

Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, got context around some AI drama, and revealed how Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games.

Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on more than one occasion.

He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times.

Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises.

Sign in to your TheGamer account

Add Us On

follow

Follow

followed

Followed

Like

Like

Thread

Log in

Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents:

Try something different:

Show me the facts

Explain it like I’m 5

Give me a lighthearted recap

An 81-year-old streamer, playing through Minecraft until she "beats" it, has been swatted, with 20 police cars, five SWAT cars full of multiple SWAT officers, and drones arriving at her house.<br>GrammaCrackers, who has over 600,000 YouTube followers, is using her viral streams to raise money for her grandson's cancer treatment. She was asleep, while her stream of Minecraft was still live, when officers were seen entering her house with torches and rifles.

81-Year-Old Streamer GrammaCrackers Swatted As She Raised Money For Grandson's Cancer Treatment

Credit: GrammaCrackers YouTube.

"I was asleep, I did not want to get up, and these policemen came in the door," the 81-year-old said in a follow-up video. "They locked me out. I didn't know what was going on, but it was kinda fun. My kid and my grandkid were hugging me; I don't get that kind of attention normally. Then I got to ride in a police car. I've never ridden in a police car before. Then it was all over, so I thought 'Well, I've gotta go to bed', so I took an ibuprofen and went to bed."

The streamer, who has also streamed Fortnite, Rocket League, and Roblox, seemed upbeat about the whole situation, saying the police officers were "so nice to me, I loved them, shout out to them, they were wonderful." She added that the only thought going through her head as she was taken outside was, "I'm walking outside with bare feet, and it's not hurting."<br>GrammaCrackers is the latest high-profile streamer to face the indecency of being swatted. In 2021, xQc revealed that the police thought he was a meth addict when he was swatted. In 2022, controversial streamer Adin Ross was banned on Twitch after he faced the same fate. And last year, the actor who plays Grand Theft Auto 5's Michael, Ned Luke, revealed that he has been swatted so often that he is now friends with the police.<br>Swatting a streamer is completely illegal in the US and is often prosecuted as a felony. This is at both the state and federal levels. The most famous case came in 2018, when 25-year-old Tyler Barriss tried to swat a streamer, but instead sent the police to the wrong address. It ended with a father-of-two being shot dead by officers. Barriss was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Subscribe to the newsletter for streaming safety and more

Get the newsletter to follow informed coverage of swatting, streamer safety, and community responses. Subscribing delivers clear context on legal consequences, platform practices, and how audiences can support creators facing harassment and fundraising challenges.

Get Updates

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and...