M'sian YouTubers Under Fire For Pulling 'Fake Slapping' Prank On Shoppers At KL Mall
One of the YouTubers even chased after two female shoppers who had begun running away, not knowing it was a prank.
By Yap Wan Xiang — 12 Oct 2021, 06:08 PM
Two local YouTubers have received flak from netizens over their recent video which shows them pulling 'fake slapping' pranks on shoppers at a Kuala Lumpur mall
The video was uploaded to Mizan Majid's YouTube channel on 7 October.
In the eight-minute long video, Mizan and a collaborator — named Man — pulled the 'Prank Gertak Tampar Orang' (fake slap prank) on shoppers at escalators.
Riding on the opposite side of the escalator, Mizan and Man take turns to pretend slapping unsuspecting shoppers at the mall, sometimes yelling phrases like "apa benda" (what is it) and "apa hal" (what is the matter) as they perform the prank.
While a few male shoppers captured in the video do not flinch at their staged aggression, several female shoppers visibly recoil in fear at the put-on assault
A pair of female shoppers even make a run for it after seeing Mizan take the escalator back to the floor they are on.
It is apparent that the duo felt threatened by Mizan, who appeared to be trying to pursue them, when in fact, he was trying to confront them to tell them that it was just a prank.
Towards the end of the video, it shows Mizan and Man telling the prank victims that they mean no harm as they point towards the camera to indicate that the victims are being filmed.
"Hey bro, I am sorry because I am doing a prank. He is filming over there, do you see it?" Mizan tells one of the victims whom he just intimidated.
The YouTuber does not show if every victim agreed to have footage of themselves included in the video.
Mizan ends the video by telling his viewers that he does the prank to entertain his subscribers, adding that all the hard work is worth it for his viewers' enjoyment.
Although Mizan thinks he is entertaining his audience, most netizens criticised him for the poorly thought-out prank.
On YouTube, the video received about four times more dislikes than likes.
"Disturbance of public order. Hope non-governmental organisations (NGOs) appoint a lawyer to sue these YouTubers," read a top comment on the video streaming platform.
"I'm quite sure those girls' hearts were beating fast because they thought some creepy dude is coming after them. It's traumatising. Content sampah (trash)!" added another YouTube user.
"Mizan, understand that this is all for content, but it doesn't fit the culture of our country. Don't mimic the Western culture. It could be a police case if someone reports it," wrote a netizen.
Meanwhile, a short snippet of the video was also shared on Facebook, and it went viral with over 1,500 shares.
Thousands of netizens said they did not find the video amusing and asked other fellow netizens to report the video on YouTube.
About four days after the controversial video was published, Mizan and Man made a public apology in a new video published yesterday, 11 October
In the video, Mizan promises to never make similar content anymore, but insists that he will continue making prank videos that "can be accepted by Malaysians".
He also apologises to the women who were seen running away in the video as he and Man could not explain to them the purpose of his staged aggression.
The duo then says no humans are perfect and are bound to make mistakes. They wish members of the public can forgive them and catch their next prank video.
At the time of writing, the controversial video is still available on Mizan's YouTube channel.
