The idea of content creators pushing the boundaries and risking it all for subscribers and clout is increasingly going out of control and these young creatives seem to be worrying less and less as long as they can become a trending topic over the next few days and add a few more followers on their count.
In a crowded world of insanely talented individuals with eye-catching content and with a seemingly bottomless endowment of skills, content creators have upped the ante and will now even rob a bank on camera or shoot up a maternity ward if that will help pay their rent and afford them that coveted vacation in Zanzibar.
We’re living in a sick world, make sure you’ve taken your internet vaccines.
In June 2017, married YouTubers Monalisa Perez and Pedro Ruiz decided to find the (im)perfect stunt to rake in more subscribers – stage a fatal prank.
Pedro asked Monalisa to shoot him while he was holding a thick book, hoping the book would deter the bullets from reaching him. Wrong idea.
Unexpectedly, the stunt went horribly wrong and Monalisa ended up shooting Pedro dead.
The couple already had one child and Monalisa was pregnant with their second child by the time she murdered her partner.
Interestingly, right before embarking on making the video, Monalisa had tweeted some ominously chilling words: “Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE”.
In December 2017, Monalisa pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter.
Closer home, we’ve seen Tiktokers go out of their way to create shocking content that has left a bad taste (no pun intended) in the mouth and downright terrified viewers.
Lunatic Wazimu, or Nduruman as he goes on Tiktok, is another such character who has made a habit of invading secured locations (or any crowded public place) and letting out annoyingly loud screams for absolutely no reason.
Nduruman seems to have a fetish for rattling police officers who have, somewhat interestingly, never roughed him up or arrested him even after his proclivity for public disturbance.
And over the last few days, Kenyans have been ‘praying’ for a popular Tiktoker who sees nothing wrong in chowing down a bat, skinning and frying a rat, digging into a spider or barbecuing a lizard.
Aq9nine shocked Kenyans after posting a video of himself after suffering an allergic reaction as a result of eating a spider.
His face looked like something straight from a Jordan Peele movie set.
“Guys make your last prayers kabla niende. Mniombe tu bana mi naenda…Naskia ni kama sina uso, nimefura kila mahali. Nimedishi spider bana and this is happening to my whole face,” he said in the video, adding, “If this is my last video, it has been fun entertaining you and risking my life as well..I love risks coz we live a risk..We all gon die so f–k it..Much love comrades.”