This week, a video uploaded to Youtube in 2011 has caused a huge stir. The video, which has since been removed, was titled “Hey Walter, I got a New Girlfriend Today!” The video started with a man talking to the camera describing a date he had with a girl earlier in the day. He asks if the viewer to whom he refers as ‘Walter', would like to see her. Then the video shows a young woman trapped in his basement. It is extremely disturbing, but we can all rest easy. It’s fake.
The video has been circulating for years, but only recently went viral. Viewers pointed out that the girl in the video looked like Kayla Berg, a young woman who went missing around the time the video was uploaded. The authorities at the Antigo Police Department in Wisconsin were contacted and immediately began an investigation.
After only a few hours, authorities were able to confirm that the video was fake. They posted on the Antigo Police Department Facebook page that, “The Antigo Police Department was able to make contact with the producer of the short clip and the two actors in the video. We determined that they produced a series of videos and posted this one in October 2011.”
Although the infamous “Hey Walter” video was the only video on a YouTube profile simply known as, “Hey Walter, It’s Me Patrick!” the creators of the video had another profile with more videos. Many of these videos starred the same two actors from the “Hey Walter” video, and nearly all were comedy sketches. However, since the controversy started this week the channel has seemingly been hacked. The channel, originally title ‘2150 Studios,’ has been retitled as ‘111111111’ and the channel description now reads “hack.”
All of the videos on the 2150 Studios channel, as well has the “Hey Walter, I Got a New Girlfriend” video have been removed. The creators of 2150 Studios, who have been inactive since 2014, have apologized for the video and to the family of Kayla Berg on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
