A YouTuber who posted a video of himself offering to buy a homeless man some food is receiving backlash for eating the meal himself in a since-deleted video.
Trevon Sellers’ YouTube channel is called “whatsuptre,“ and in his latest video prank, he is standing outside a Wendy’s discussing the topic of homelessness in Los Angeles, California.
“Today it’s my job to make sure there is one less hungry person on the streets,” he said in the video.
Next, Sellers walks up to a man sitting on the sidewalk. Sellers then asked if he could buy him a meal, which included a burger, fries, and a drink. After purchasing the meal from inside Wendy’s, the YouTuber returned to the man with the drink and a bag containing the food.
“I want you to enjoy this,” Sellers said as he began to take the food out of the bag.
Sellers then unwrapped the burger, took a bite out of it, and started eating the fries himself, as the man looks down.
“Alright, take care have a nice day,” he said, picking up the drink and walking away from the man.
A volunteer serve a plate of food to a homeless man during the traditional Thanksgiving meal served by the non-profit Midnight Mission to nearly 2000 homeless people in the Skid Row neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles on Nov. 25, 2021. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)
This video triggered extreme backlash on social media, a place where content creators post pranks on innocent people to gain views, likes, and laughs.
The video clip was shared on several social media accounts including Twitter’s Drama Alert.
“People are PISSED at this small YouTuber for pranking the homeless. #DramaAlert His name is ‘whatsuptre’ and the original video has been removed,” the post read.
Thousands of comments flooded social media with people disgusted at how cruel this prank seemed from the clip.
“Whatsuptre is the type of person to make this type of video and think it’s hilarious in his head and say everyone is too sensitive for getting mad at him for making this garbage. It’s crazy the things people do to try to get views,” one comment read.
While another person commented, “He deserves JAIL.” in regards to how insulting this prank was toward the homeless community.
Sellers’ videos involve public pranks, which have previously included knocking down boxes at a Girl-Scout-cookie stand before offering to buy 10 boxes. His videos can be seen as offensive and rude, as the content creator pushes the limits of his pranks on people.
In his homeless man video, Twitter users also pointed out that the video could have been staged as the “homeless” man could have been a paid actor, and accusedthe YouTuber of posting the controversial video in order to gain attention and go viral.
After widespread criticism of his video, Sellers took it down and made a statement via Instagram, according to entertainment and celebrity gossip website Hollywood Unlocked.
“Fake video I literally knew the guy before I did this and said it was okay. I even bought him food afterward but y’all edited the video to make it seem like I’m the bad guy. IT'S FAKEEE,” Sellers said in a statement.
The full version of the video shows Sellers coming back to the man but not being able to find him. He then went to another place with homeless camps and gave the meal to a different male.
“I feel bad but at least I did something good,” he can be heard saying at the end of the video.
Sellers’ addressed the backlash on his Instagram account.
“This video has been trending around the internet recently and I wanna clear the air on it. This entire video is scripted and the man you see in it is a friend and local of my community his name is Israel Pope. I asked him beforehand if we could make this video and he agreed to be in it. I gave him some money and some food before we even started recording. The clip you are seeing shows me eating a sandwich and walking away but that’s not the full video. I buy another meal and come back to the spot and he left as we told him to. We then gave the other meal to another guy. THIS WAS TAKEN EXTREMELY OUT OF CONTEXT AND I JUST WANT THE WORLD TO SEE THE FULL VIDEO,” he said in a statement.
The Epoch Times couldn’t directly verify Sellers’ statement and reached out for comment but did not receive a response.
Elizabeth is a SoCal based reporter covering issues in Los Angeles and throughout the state for The Epoch Times. She is passionate about creating truthful and accurate stories for readers to connect with. When she’s not reporting, she enjoys writing poetry, playing basketball, embarking on new adventures and spending quality time with her family and friends.
