On November 29, 2015, a 26-year-old British YouTuber published a video to his channel that has forever changed the future of online content creation. This video is called "Killing Best Friend Prank," and opens with the line, “Let’s see how he reacts to his best friend of five years being killed in front of him!” It features two best friends being kidnapped and stuffed into the trunk of a car by a random stranger. One of the boys is in on it, but the other is not. One of the boys watches as his best friend is fake-shot in the head by this stranger. He cries out for help, assures his best friend that they are going to be OK, and tries to plead with his supposed kidnapper only to find out in the end that his friend is alive and it was all one big joke. This video currently has over six million views on YouTube and has yet to be taken off the site. The sick, twisted, uncreative individual that crafted, filmed, and published this disturbing "prank" video is Sam Pepper: YouTube's new most hated vlogger.
Pepper's video made worldwide news when it was published online last week, and creators and fans everywhere are livid that the video exists. Not only is the video cruel and inhumane, it comes just days after the tragic terrorist attacks in Paris and during a time when the United States is fighting a war over gun control with gun violence being a very forefront issue. Several other popular YouTubers have spoken out about Pepper's video and have taken to social media to make sure their voices are heard. Jack Harries, one half of the popular YouTube channel "JacksGap," is one of the creators that had the most to say about Pepper. Harries took to Twitter on November 30 to share his thoughts on the new video. In a series of Tweets, he calls Pepper out for the insensitive nature of the video and reprimands him for posting it during such a trying time. He Tweeted:
"This is one of the most disgusting things i've seen on youtube. You need a f**king reality check man. Who the hell do you think you are? Human abuse is not funny, entertaining, clever or interesting. Its just downright fucked up! Have you read the news lately? Did you see what just happened in Paris? How can you be so f**king insensitive. Get a grip man! I think I speak for the majority of the internet when I say please leave. You're not wanted in this space."
Harries finished his thoughts by tweeting the link to a petition started by Kaylee Jade Davis of the United Kingdom to get Pepper's YouTube account deactivated. The petition has nearly 200,000 signatures, and the link has been tweeted by several highly influential YouTube stars in the hopes that YouTube will consider eliminating this kind of unacceptable content from the YouTube creative community.
According to the BBC, YouTube won't be taking the video down any time soon. The company claims that the video doesn't violate any of its community guidelines. The two boys in the video, Sam Golbach (the prankee) and Colby Brock (the prankster), have spoken out regarding the controversial video. Golbach claims that he's OK, isn't scarred from the prank, and that his friendship with Brock and Pepper is at an all-time high. He took to Twitter to address the claims that he wasn't doing well and said, "We realize this isn't a video to make people laugh. Instead, it was supposed to show a true friendship." If it took his best friend getting pretend-shot in the head for him to realize he cherished his friendship, they need to revisit their relationship. Just an opinon.
This isn't the first time Pepper has come under fire for being an idiot. In October of 2014, Pepper released a "prank" video where he walked around Los Angeles pinching women's butts. After the video was published, six women in total came forward with claims that Pepper sexually harassed them and, according to BBC, only one was considering taking it to the police because the others feared online harassment should they publicly expose Pepper.
I have many words for Mr. Pepper, but many of them would make my mother want to wash my mouth out with soap. Sam Pepper has shocked the world with his thoughtlessness and general ignorance, and he has tainted a community of creative professionals that are doing so much good with their work. There must not be a whole lot going on upstairs in Pepper's mind, if you catch my drift. He's not the sharpest tool in the drawer. The YouTube community is shocked and saddened to see no consequence come to Pepper, which, in my opinion, will only encourage him to try to push the envelope further. How close can he get to the fire without bursting into flames? I hope YouTube has an answer for us. I hope that the obvious course of action is taken. I hope that Sam Pepper is never on my computer screen again.
