Pranks and sexual harassment may seem worlds away but after one YouTube video incident, they don’t seem that far. In case you don’t live on the Internet like myself, Sam Pepper, a YouTuber with a 2 million subscriber following, recently posted a video called “Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank.” It was initially posted as a single video, but when backlash came about the video, Sam was quick to post two more videos, stating that it was all a “social experiment.” Now many people have come forward to talk about their encounters with Sam Pepper.
To say this is an opinion piece may be very true but I will do my best to present the cold hard facts to you. Let’s start from the beginning. Sam Pepper is known for pranking people and posting them on his YouTube channel but this time around he seemed to have gone too far. He went around a local shopping center, asking girls where the closest Apple Store was located. While the girls were directing him, he would take his hand out from under his hoodie to pinch their butts. Most girls reacted quickly asking if he had touched them. Pepper then said no, showing his arm sleeve tucked into his hoodie pocket and hiding his real hand. This went on for around seven girls before the video was over, not hinting in anyway that there would be a sequel or follow up to the video.
Backlash occurred and Pepper decided to release the other two videos he had “planned” to show later. The second video of the series was a girl doing the same butt-pinching prank on guys. Once again, the boys felt uncomfortable and tried to walk away. Finally, Pepper posted his third and final video of the series stating that this was all an “experiment” and wanted to show how sexual harassment occurs to both genders. He went on to explain how his male friend was in a physically abusive relationship and made this video to show that sexual harassment didn’t just occur to women. Pepper also went on to explain that all the women and men in the videos were actors and gave their consent to post the video. Both of these videos were posted about four to five days after the first initial video. However, Pepper has posted other videos that were blatantly harassment but was meant to come off as a joke, such as “How to Make out with Strangers,” “How to Get a Girlfriend,” “Fingering Strangers in Public,” and “How to Pick Up Girls with a Lasso.” Those are just a few of his videos that seem to blur the line between sexual harassment and pranks. To be truthful, I had watched them in the past; I was a huge fan of Sam Pepper. I even went to NYC for 3 hours just to meet him and two other YouTubers.
This is where the lines blur and things started to come out of the woodwork. The first question that arose was, how do you plan to stop sexual harassment by sexually harassing people? Good question. That’s like setting fire to something and saying, hey, don’t start fires, this is what will happen. Slightly contradictory but I could see where he was coming from… kinda. The next question was, if this was a series, why didn’t he state that in the first video? The first video was called “Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank” but his second and third videos were called “Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank 2/3” and “Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank 3/3.” Why not just post 1/3 on his first video? This led the public to question if the two videos following the very controversial video were to just cover his tracks. Was it really meant to raise awareness or did he suddenly try to make this into a social experiment? Since then, YouTube has taken down all three videos and his Facebook page was deleted.
Since the release of all three videos, many women have come forward stating that he had sexually harassed them or raped them. This was something that many YouTube creators were not taking lightly. Not only did it question the YouTube family, but the integrity of his friends. Laci Green, a Youtuber who had come to Pitt this past spring, was the first to really take the lead and write an open letter from YouTubers to Sam Pepper. Since then, she has received messages on top of messages stating that Pepper had raped or harassed them (to follow what she has been doing for this entire happening, check out her Tumblr). The girls that were brave enough to come out with their stories. They were taken very seriously and helped build a community that helped fight for their stories to be shared and spread.
While this has taken a major stab at his fame, he still has a valid following that say that he was just showing the wrong of the world. I am not saying these people are wrong but I do suggest they take a step back and really look at the facts. Even while I was writing this article, a new controversy over Sam Pepper occurred: Police in LA investigated him after a victim came forward about harassment; the charges were later dropped because the victim did not want to press charges. Slowly all of these claims are coming out and furthering the questioning of his videos and his “series to raise awareness.” Pepper has been told he can no longer attend YouTube events and since then has lost over 100,000 subscribers—myself included.
This may be one very public sexual harassment case but it needs to be seen as raising awareness to something most people try to shy away from. If you or someone you know has been sexually harassed, please speak up. If that first girl had not spoken up about Sam Pepper, these ongoing cases would not be happening. Please know, nothing you or your friend did was your fault! Sam Pepper often used the excuse that the girls had lead him on so that made him feel it was right to touch them inappropriately. That is never the case. No means no. It is never too late to reach out for help when it comes to harassment of any type. If you feel uncomfortable, that is not your fault; you are not in the wrong.
If you or a friend needs to reach out to someone, please call the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network at 1-800-656-HOPE.
Image credit: All are screenshots from Pepper’s videos