We’ve already written about this “drunk girl in public bit,” but I’m calling FAKE!
In the end, videos like 10 Hours Walking in NYC might do more harm than good. Because of 10 Hours’ extreme virality, we are now subjected to the self-important filmmakers of YouTube conducting their own “social experiments.” Like this one, where a girl pretending to be drunk solicits strangers for help finding a bus. Of course the strangers, all men, instantly prey on her and try to coerce her back to their lairs, doubtlessly for more beer and non-consensual sex.
But this video looks and feels fake as f**k — especially the last one where some German guy poaches her from some tiny doofus.
The sad thing is that over 3 million people have watched this video, and a few of them walked away believing it. While there are predatory elements running around L.A. looking to take advantage of incapacitated women, to fake such incidents does more harm than good. Similar to this faked video of two Muslim men being harassed by the police, which NMR exposed recently — these “social experiments” trivialize actual incidents and make all encounters less believable.
You want to know a good way to kidnap somebody now? Have a buddy videotape the incident as you snatch a girl in broad daylight off a crowded street. Because of shit like this video, people will just assume it’s another bullshit “social experiment” meant for YouTube.
In March, I agreed to play a homophobic mom in a “First Kiss” spoof for people I trusted. I thought I would be credited as an actor – they marketed the video as real (impliedly) and didn’t care about what I was going through as a result, but when people started to approach my daughter (who was also in the video), I nearly lost my shizz.
I’ve started #NoMoreFakeSocialExperiments on Twitter – let’s talk about the harm not only to duped participants, but to the people rally behind a message that turns out to be just a vehicle for YouTube fame.
What if Mike Koshak had been assaulted by someone whose sister had been raped? It shouldn’t take serious harm or a lawsuit to take unethical content creators to task.