There's a (big) difference between a prank and assault, but this YouTube star seems to have confused the two.
Sam Pepper, a British YouTube celebrity with a following of over 2 million, posted a video on Sept. 20 where he walks around grabbing unsuspecting women's butts and films their reactions. The public outcry for the clip to be taken down was so loud that YouTube removed the video this morning.
Pepper is famous for his outrageous YouTube prank videos, however this one not only confused but angered many of his fans and a large portion of the Internet.
The video features Pepper walking up to five different women, starting a conversation and then pinching their butts when they look away. It's painful to watch as these women awkwardly laugh off Pepper's "prank" and walk away, violated and confused. As one YouTube commenter wrote, "Literally the first girl said 'I don't like that.' Line crossed."
The video has received so much negative feedback that people have been reporting the clip to YouTube asking for it to be taken down since it was posted this past Saturday. The hashtag #ReportSamPepper, created by 19-year-old Tumblr user Kara, has been populating Twitter the past few days -- and, thankfully, YouTube listened.
#reportsampepper just bc you label it as a "prank" doesn't excuse the fact that you're sexually harassing women.
— ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ (@msftxbieber) September 22, 2014
Many of Pepper's fellow YouTube stars have denounced his behavior, including Laci Green, Tyler Oakley, Hannah Hart, Hank Green and Charlie McDonnell. Hank Green, one of the founders of the national conference for online video creators called VidCon, also took to Twitter to voice his outrage:
Sex positive vlogger Laci Green weighed in on the controversy, writing an open letter to Pepper on Sept. 21 on Tumblr:
We are deeply disturbed by this trend and would like to ask you, from one creator to another, to please stop. Please stop violating women and making them uncomfortable on the street for views. Please stop physically restraining them and pressuring them to be sexual when they are uncomfortable. Please show some respect for women’s right to their own bodies. While it may seem like harmless fun, a simple prank, or a “social experiment”, these videos encourage millions of young men and women to see this violation as a normal way to interact with women. One in six young women (real life ones, just like the ones in your video) are sexually assaulted, and sadly, videos like these will only further increase those numbers.
And Tyler Oakley, an LGBTQ advocate with over 5 million YouTube followers, took to Twitter as well, stating:
The Huffington Post reached out to Sam Pepper and YouTube for comment but did not receive a response from either at the time of publication.
The bottom line? Sexism and assault disguised as humor is still sexism and assault.
UPDATE: 9/23/2014 12:35 p.m. -- Pepper posted two follow-up videos, one to his Facebook account and the other to YouTube, claiming his original "Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank" video was staged and scripted. He also claims the prank and subsequent videos are a social experiment to promote awareness of male victims of domestic abuse.
Pepper's third video claims that the entire prank was actually a social experiment.
Many of his fans have expressed skepticism that Pepper initially planned to have a "big reveal" outing the "prank" as a social experiment with a larger message, with one Facebook follower writing: "Could have said that at the end of the [original] video. Now it just looks like you're covering your ass."
Fellow vlogger Laci Green tweeted:
[h/t Kinja]