M'sian YouTube Prankster Defends Yanking Women's Hijabs & Calls Video 'Social Experiment'
He said it was all "just for content" and asked people not to judge a book by its cover.
By Hizral Faiz Rozeman — 06 Jul 2022, 03:41 PM
Malaysian YouTuber NickChannel has received major backlash from netizens after uploading a prank video in which he pulls on the hijabs of two women
The video starts off with the YouTuber explaining that he started a YouTube channel after being criticised for his past behaviour.
"To the people who criticised me before, I have a video for you guys. After watching, I want you guys to judge and leave a comment. Now that I have made a YouTube channel, if you guys want to criticise me, then go ahead," said NickChannel at the beginning of the video.
The video then shifts to the prank portion, and NickChannel can be seen in a corridor near a playground scouting for victims
His first victim was a woman wandering around the corridor.
NickChannel can be seen 'stalking' the woman, before running up to her from behind and yanking her hijab off.
The woman appears to be furious and yells at Nick, and questions why he did such a thing.
"La, I just wanted to make content. Can't I do that?" he responded before leaving.
The second 'target' in the video is a woman who appears to be engaged in a call.
"I don't care. I want to disturb her. I'll pull her headscarf and see if she gets angry. If she wants to fight, then we will," he exclaimed before ambushing the second woman.
After pulling her hijab, he can be seen snickering at the camera while pointing at the woman.
As she tries to fix her headscarf back on, Nick goes up to her and asks if she was okay and explains that he "was just creating content". He also apologises to her and asks if she was angry.
"Now that I understand what you are doing. I'm not that mad. I was just shocked," the woman responded, adding that she was not sure if she was being attacked by a thief at that moment.
The video was shared on Twitter and Facebook, with thousands of netizens condemning the stunt
One of the earliest Twitter threads that criticised the YouTuber has almost reached 8,000 retweets and 6,386 quote retweets as of writing.
Twitter users questioned if making content can serve as a licence for people to be rude and disrespectful.
"This can be considered harassment. 'I'm only making content,' wtf?" read the tweet.
Another Twitter user wrote, "Muslim women in other countries fight for their lives [over] hijabs, but in our country, this happens because it's a joke."
In response to the uproar, NickChannel released a follow-up video to explain his intentions
In the video, he is joined by the two 'victims' who are no longer donning headscarves.
He explains that the prank was scripted, the women were in on it, and that they don't even wear headscarves to begin with.
"I did this 'social experiment' to see how Malaysians criticise, because usually other YouTubers' content would be taken out of context and condemned without netizens knowing the full story," said NickChannel.
"So I made this video as proof to show that this issue was actually just content," he added, while the two women with him nodded in agreement.
He went on to criticise Malaysians for making judgement on situations without knowing the full story and asked people to investigate thoroughly first before criticising.
"One thing I want to say is don't judge [a] book by its cover, you know?" he added.
The trio ended the video by thanking the viewers.
Following the controversial video, the YouTuber was charged for indecent behaviour yesterday, 5 July
Wangsa Maju district police chief Supt Ashari Abu Samah said the 24-year-old was arrested at 7.30pm yesterday, reported Harian Metro.
He added that an investigation paper was opened in accordance with Section 509 of the Penal Code for insulting the modesty of a woman, as well as under Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act 1955 (Act 336) for indecent behaviour.
"However, the suspect was charged under Section 14 of Act 336 in the Magistrate's Court yesterday and was fined," Harian Metro quoted him as saying today, 6 July.
