“Let’s see how he reacts to his best friend of five years being killed in front of him!” were the words spoken by acclaimed Youtuber, Sam Pepper, as he introduced his ‘Best Friend Murder Prank’. Since its release on November 29, 2015, the video has garnered over seven million views and tons of controversy to go along with it.
Pepper introduced his latest video as 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. Golbach is then tied down to a chair and is pranked for 20 minutes. Instead, there’s another number that the public is hoping YouTube pays close attention to: a petition with more than 117,000 signatures asking YouTube to remove Pepper’s channel from its site.
“It’s important that Pepper gets called out for putting up such childish videos like this. Violence is NOT funny- regardless of if you call it a prank or not. It’s a very serious matter and he deserves to be punished for his actions” Hadeel Fouad, senior, said.
Pepper is also no stranger to outrage, for reasons beyond the content of his videos. Last year, Pepper was accused of rape, an accusation that led to a Los Angeles Police Department investigation, the British Broadcasting Company reported. Several other women then came forward with their own accusations against Pepper. To respond, 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 had not been arrested and was not aware of any criminal investigation by the LAPD.
It also appears that Pepper’s large social media presence across platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube will survive this round of backlash, too. YouTube told the BBC on Monday that it has decided the video doesn’t violate the site’s community guidelines. YouTube declined to comment on the record regarding the controversy.
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 YouTubers and social media stars. Some of the biggest stars like Ricky P Dillon, Hannah Hart, Andrea Russett, and Jack and Finn Harries have all called out Pepper for his actions, saying “YouTube is a great platform that can empower great content. It’s sad when people misuse it.”
“It is not simply a ‘prank’. This situation definitely left the people in the video filled with anxiety and heartache. It’s disappointing that Youtube has not taken any action against him, especially since this is not his first time causing controversy. The internet should be a safe space, and him filling it up with negative content is not helping it at all” Mustafa Wadan, senior, said.
It is clear that the internet is still trying to figure out what is acceptable in the air of humor. Internet-friendly humor usually seems to be irrelevant and overdone. But when pushed to extremes – the extremes which can seem necessary to make a name for yourself in the digital space – these antics can very easily turn haywire.
