(warning: video is graphic and can be disturbing)
YouTuber Sam Pepper is facing backlash against his latest prank video titled “Killing Best Friend Prank,” which he posted to YouTube on November 29, 2015. The video is disturbing to watch and brings a new low to the term “social experiment.”
“A prank is a whoopee cushion, not pretending to kill someone’s best friend right in front of them. There are so many things wrong with this video,” says junior Jessica Antonacci.
In the video, Pepper describes how he recently met the Kansas viners Sam Golbach and Colby Brock and invited them to meet up with him to talk about filming a YouTube video together. What one of the viners does not know is that he is in store for one of the most traumatic pranks of his life, watching his best friend of five years “die” right in front of him.
The Big Brother contestant also describes that Goldbach is in on the prank, but Brock has no clue about any of it. The prank starts with Goldbach and Brock in their car driving to Pepper’s meeting place, but when the car has “trouble” and slows down in a dark alley way, Goldbach gets out to check the hood. He urges Brock to help him get it open and check with him, at which point an unknown man sneaks up behind Brock and puts a hood over his head. Goldbach pretends to scream and be dragged away as the unknown man and Pepper literally tape Brock’s hands and shove him into the trunk of his car.
The next scene is on a rooftop in Downtown LA, which is oddly convenient considering they kidnapped someone and were able to get to the rooftop of a building without raising suspicion, where Brock is tapped to a chair and Goldbach is kneeling in from of him. The unknown man takes the hood off of him and the hood off of Goldbach, putting a gun to Golbach’s head. Then we hear more and more screaming from Brock, begging for his best friend’s life and right as Brock screams, “He’s all I have,” the man “shoots” Golbach in the head. At this point, Golbach is going crazy, screaming and crying, and it is not something that someone who was acting could have possibly done.
The video ends with Golbach getting up and telling Brock he is okay, to which Brock, who is still extremely traumatized, screams in confusion and hugs Golbach. There is a clip after this of Pepper, Golbach, and Brock talking about how Golbach is okay and to subscribe, etc. That is where the video ends.
First of all, I am pretty sure half of the events that take place in this video are illegal. You cannot just kidnap someone and claim it as a prank. Even if it is, the person still thinks he is in danger and that could lead to serious consequences for both parties. This poor kid could have had a heart attack or something in the back of that trunk. What if something happened to him in the trunk or what if he was able to fight back? A prank is a prank, but kidnapping is not a joke and should be taken very seriously.
Pepper is accustomed to getting backlash for his videos. Many of his social experiments are not your typical pranks. One of his most negatively reviewed videos is called “Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank” and it really is as pathetic as it sounds.
In the video, he stuffs his sweatshirt sleeve into the front pocket, along with his other arm, and leaves his other arm inside the hoodie. Then he goes up to random women in LA, distracts them, then pinches their butt. Did someone say sexual harassment? Minutes after the video was posted, there was an uproar of negative comments and posts, so much so that the video was taken down.
“I used to love [Sam Pepper’s] videos, but ever since he posted the one of pinching girl’s butts without their permission, it just gave me this distaste for him,” says senior Matthew Skibniewski.
This new video, along with the old one, just proves that Pepper needs to end his career as a YouTuber. It is one thing to pull a prank and it is another to traumatize someone.
What do you think of Sam Pepper’s latest video, if you watched it?