YouTuber Trevon Sellers is speaking out after a video of him offering a man on the street a meal and then eating it in front of him sparked outrage from social media users.
The content creator, better known as “whatsuptre” on his YouTube channel, has a compilation of prank videos on his page, Business Insider reported. From pretending to bring a bomb inside a school classroom to destroying a Girl Scout cookie stand, Seller seemingly does controversial things as a joke.
However, the now-deleted video has made its rounds on social media, and countless users called out Sellers for being insensitive about the man’s unfortunate situation.
In the viral clip, Sellers stands outside a Wendy’s in Los Angeles, discussing eye-opening facts about houselessness in California.
“Los Angeles, California, has the third biggest homeless population in the United States, and today it’s my job to make sure there is one less hungry person on the streets,” he said in the video.
He then spotted a man named Israel sitting on the sidewalk. Sellers asked him if he was hungry and offered to buy him a meal inside the fast-food restaurant. The content creator returned to the man with a drink and a bag containing the food and said, “I want you to enjoy this,” as he retrieved the items.
As Sellers started unwrapping the burger, he shared his struggles with houselessness with the man. He then took a bite of the sandwich and ate the fries excessively.
“Alright, take care; have a nice day,” he said, walking away from the man with the food and drink in his hand.
Many Twitter users shared the viral clip and condemned the content creator for his actions in the video.
“People nowadays feel so comfy disrespecting others using social media and not getting decked in the face for it. We need to bring that back imo,” one user said.
“These people will do anything for fame. No moral or character. It’s disgusting,” another user said.
“How is this supposed to be funny?? This is just such disgusting behavior,” a third user wrote.
One user, @BlaxkSalt, posted what seems to be the unedited version of the clip, where Sellers returned with food and a drink to give to the man. “Ya’ll didn’t think I was that mean, right?” Sellers said to viewers.
Here’s the full video pic.twitter.com/4D4ovvc1uM
— Zay (@BlaxkSalt) April 23, 2023
After noticing Israel was gone, he gave the food to another man who appeared grateful for the meal.
While many social media users may have just learned about the controversial video, Sellers addressed the clip in February and said it was “taken out of context.”
“This video has been trending around the internet recently and I wanna clear the air on it,” Sellers wrote. “This entire video is scripted and The man you see in it is a friend and local of my community his name is Isreal Pope.”
He continued, “I asked him before hand if we could make this video and he agreed to be in it . I gave him some money and food before we even started recording. The clip you are seeing shows me eating the sandwich and walking away but that’s not the full video. I buy another meal and come back to the spot and he left like we told him too. We then gave the other meal to another guy. THIS WAS TAKEN EXTREMELY OUT OF CONTEXT AND I JUST THE WORLD TO SEE THE FULL VIDEO.”
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Sellers recently deactivated his Instagram account amid backlash from the video.
