How far would you go to become YouTube famous?
Over the past couple of years, YouTube has become a place where people can broadcast parts of their life for views and an occasional paycheck. If you can build a successful YouTube channel, then you have the chance to earn thousands if not millions of dollars. But how far would you go to become YouTube famous?
Last week, a YouTuber known as DaddyOFive went viral after people discovered the parents would “prank” their children for YouTube views. The video that first drew the attention of the Internet world was a video called “Ink Prank,” in which the mother and father screamed expletives at Cody, very young son, accusing him of spilling ink on his bedroom carpet. They berate the child to the point he is in tears as he desperately tries to tell them he is innocent. Another child is pulled into the prank and begins to cry. In the end, as the two sons are wiping away their tears, the parents tell viewers to like and subscribe.
Currently, they have over 700,000 subscribers. That said that number would start to drop in the next coming weeks. But this is not the only video where the parents cause emotional distress on their children. In fact, in a vast majority of the videos, Cody is the one that gets a disproportionate amount of mistreatment. Cody is seen screaming and crying, and his siblings are also bullying him breaking his toys, dragging him off of furniture, all the while his stepmother demands he take a joke and to stop “acting like a butthole.” Often, he looks into the camera and begs for the filming to stop. Of course, it does not. In another video, Cody asked his father to stop filming, where his father responds, “No, I need to blog my life.”
In an attempt to assure viewers that the videos are fake, DaddyOFive released an apology video claiming their kids are aspiring actors and their children’s tears are the result of their acting talents.
In a statement on Twitter, Daddyofive said: “We discussed different alternatives for our future videos and ways we can improve.
“We deeply apologise for your feelings of concern. We DO NOT condone child abuse in any way, shape, or form.
“As many of our friends and family would tell you, we are a loving, close-knit family.”
— Daddyofive (@MikeMartin1982) April 18, 2017
Ultimately, it comes down to this – how far would someone go to obtain subscribers, views, fame, and money.
