So, there is a very big YouTuber right now by the name of So Flo Antonio. He has 54,000 followers on Twitters, 6 million likes on Facebook, and 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. He markets himself as an entertainer/entrepreneur. But, he is the exact opposite.
This is what he looks like, his real name is Antonio Lievano.
So Flo Antonio used to run three YouTube channels: SoFlo Antonio, So Flo Pranks, and So Flo Comedy. One of the things he is notorious for is making Prank videos that fall under the categories of Gone Sexual or Gone Wrong. What really happens is Lievano gets himself into a situation where he either says something racially charged or sexually harasses somebody. When the target begins to retaliate, he tries to mollify the situation by yelling "IT'S JUST A PRANK! IT'S JUST A PRANK! IT'S JUST A PRANK!" Sometimes, he tries to play it off as a "social experiment" in order to keep himself out of trouble. Another YouTuber who did this was Sam Pepper. He got in trouble after he was caught using his prank as a guise to grab people's buttocks. In one video, Lievano pretends to be naked. But, the censor bar leaves out a little bit of his underwear.
Lievano's brand of comedy also includes what is called freebooting. He takes a viral video, adds a clip of himself saying something like "I watched this 17 times" or "I won't lie, this made me tear up." and pastes it right in front of the video to make it seem like he did it himself. He gets past the copyright filters on Facebook by creating fake Facebook pages and using them to host his videos.
Critics agree that Lievano's empire is, to say the least: problematic. A YouTube channel called H3H3 productions made a parody page called "SoFloBro" to make fun of the YouTube star. That page was shut down and that page's likes were somehow transferred over to the So Flo affiliates. Australian YouTuber Lewis Spears had a skype call with Lievano who threaten to sue him for defamation. When faced with critics. Lievano drowns them out with "You're all haters. I'm just playing the game. Haters make me famous. You hate me because you ain't me." Translation: "I'm more powerful than you and I'm using my power to throw my weight around and avoid criticism."
The worst part is that he is making money off of this. So Flo Antonio makes about $3,000 per video through YouTube's partnership program. Rumor has it that Facebook is starting a program similar to it but with Facebook. Logan Paul and Hayes Grier, two famous Vine stars, are are also responsible for freebooting. If freebooting keeps going unnoticed. Imagine how much money and time could be going to the wrong people. The artists who spend hours and hours crafting pieces that truly bring joy and laughter to their viewers.
If somebody becomes famous online, they should be making an impact. If people keep freebooting, like Lievano. we'll have kids saying "I don't need college, I'll become a Facebooker. I'll make more money and be more powerful than the people going to college ever will." Your Facebook pages will be the same six memes, clickbait articles, and prank videos circulated over and over again, clouding the important moments in life that you try to document into obscurity.
It's time we take a stand and say "No to messed up prank videos! No to memes shared the same six people! I want quality content that makes an impact and I want it now!"
