Some sick of viral YouTube prankster
By Abby Ohlheiser The Washington Post
‘Let’s see how he reacts to his best friend of five years being
killed in front of him!” It sounds like a line from a “Black Mirror”
episode. But in reality, that’s how vlogger Sam Pepper introduced his
latest video, a “prank” in which Sam Golbach, one half of the Vine duo
Sam and Colby, is tricked into believing he’s watching Colby Brock’s
murder. It has more than 2 million views. But there’s another number
that some people are hoping YouTube pays attention to: a petition with
more than 100,000 signatures asking You-Tube to banish Pepper from its site.
“Sam Pepper needs to be stopped. This is not his first offence and
it won’t be his last, unless we stop him,” the petition’s author,
Kaylee-Jade Davis, wrote.
Pepper is not unfamiliar to controversy: he previously made a
“prank” video where he appeared to grope random women on the street — a
video that he has since claimed was entirely staged and scripted as a
“social experiment.” YouTube ended up removing the video from its site.
He is just one of many YouTube pranksters who have made careers as
vlogging shock manufacturers. YouTube pranking is competitive, as we’ve
recently noted: There are more than 2.5 million prank videos on the
site, created by about 1.3 million accounts, according to data from
Tubester. Pepper and a handful of other prankers have managed to gain
followings in that competitive field by creating “pranks” that are more
and more extreme. Although Pepper’s murder “prank” is disturbing, he’s
not the first YouTuber to stage a death for the sake of clicks.
But Pepper has been a divisive figure in YouTube circles for reasons
beyond the content of his videos. Last year, Pepper was accused of rape,
an accusation that led to an LAPD investigation, the BBC reported. Other
women then came forward with their own accusations against Pepper. In
response, Pepper posted a statement from his attorney to Twitter,
denying the allegations contained in “any and all accusations that have
been made against him,” and stating that Pepper has not been arrested
and was not aware of any criminal investigation by the LAPD.
It appears that Pepper’s social media presence will survive this
round of backlash, too. YouTube told the BBC on Monday that it has
determined the video doesn’t violate the site’s community guidelines.
You-Tube declined to comment on the record to the Intersect.
Pepper has the public support of both Brock and Golbach, who posted
statements to Snapchat and Twitter over the past few says saying they’re
all still friends. “Going into social media I knew at one point there
would be a prank or something like this that would happen,” Golbach (the
one who was tricked into believe he was witnessing his friend’s murder)
wrote. “After thinking through it all and spending the next few days
with both Colby and Sam [Pepper] I’m honestly not mad.”
Still, many have found it difficult to dismiss the video simply as a
prank and move on. And some of its loudest critics include other
You-Tubers and social media stars.
The whole thing was enough to attract the attention of an
Anonymous-affiliated Twitter account, which posted the following:
BULLETIN: Sam Pepper has exactly 24 hours to take down the video
titled “KILLING BEST FRIEND PRANK” or he will incur the wrath of Anonymous.
The video, running just over five minutes, is difficult to watch,
even knowing that everything was planned out in advance and no one
actually dies. The “prank” begins when Golbach is attacked, blindfolded,
and thrown to the ground by a masked attacker — presumably Pepper. Brock
yells and pretends to be restrained as well, as if he has been kidnapped
too. Once Golbach can’t see, Brock returns and helps to bind the arms
and legs of his friend, and carry him to the trunk of a car. Golbach
screams for help the entire time, even as the car, with him in the
trunk, drives off.
The video picks up 20 minutes later, with both Golbach and Brock
blindfolded and bound to two chairs. The masked attacker takes the
blindfold off of Golbach, and briefly shows him that Brock is sitting
next to him, with a hood over his head. The attacker then puts a gun to
Brock’s head, and allows Golbach to plead for their lives. Golbach
screams and cries, says that they’re “just kids,” and that Brock is
“everything” to him. Then a sound like a gunshot, and Brock slumps to
the ground.
You see, but don’t hear, Golbach react to what he believes is the
death of his best friend, for what feels like a long time, as the camera
tightens on Golbach. Brock then stands up, takes the hood off of his
face and approaches his friend. Despite Brock standing before him
unharmed, Golbach takes a while to understand what’s going on. “I
thought you actually died,” Golbach eventually says, after Brock unbinds
him from the chair. They hug.
In a later statement, Golbach said he was “not traumatized” by the
whole thing. “This isn’t a video to make people laugh,” he argues, “it
was supposed to show a true friendship.”
The video ends two days later, with all three social media stars
sitting together. “That was crazy!” Golbach says. Pepper plugs Sam and
Colby’s YouTube and Vine accounts, and concludes, “Make sure you
subscribe for more pranks!”
--
*================================================ Duane Whittingham -
N9SSN (ARES/RACES, EmComm, Skywarn & Red Cross)
http://www.radiodude.info ================================================*
_______________________________________________
Medianews mailing list
Medianews@etskywarn.net
http://etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews_etskywarn.net
