The Sam Pepper situation just gets uglier and uglier. As YouTube sex educator Laci Green explains in the video above, Pepper, under fire for “prank” videos on YouTube that appear to show him sexually harassing numerous young women, is now facing serious accusations of sexual misconduct from numerous women – including, in one case, violent rape.
For those who haven’t been following the story as it’s developed over the past week: Sam Pepper is a former Big Brother UK cast member and YouTube personality best known for a series of unfunny “prank” videos which have often featured him sexually harassing women in various creepy ways.
Earlier this week, Pepper posted a video titled “Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank,” that featured him grabbing the asses of various women he encountered on the street with his real hand – the fake hand (arm, actually) was a bit of a misdirect to make it look as though it wasn’t really him doing the pinching.
This apparently was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. After a groundswell of complaints about the blatant sexual harassment in the video, YouTube took it down.
Pepper responded with a second video, in which a woman went around pinching men’s asses, and then a third, in which he claimed, bizarrely, that the whole thing had been staged with actors in an attempt to bring public attention to the issue of … sexual harassment against men.
This claim reeks of bullshit. Over the course of his less-than-illustrious career Pepper has put forth numerous videos that feature similar sexual harassment of women — oh, sorry, “pranks.” If you go through his YouTube uploads, you’ll find videos in which he literally handcuffs himself to unsuspecting and clearly uncomfortable women, promising to release them if they kiss him. In other videos he forces kisses on other unsuspecting women; in yet another he and an accomplice literally lasso women and claim them for their own.
Are all these videos fake, too? Are they all part of his grand plan to bring light to sexual harassment against … men?
Or are they what they appear to be, videos in which Pepper harasses women and calls it pranking?
And is his big “reveal” video a sincere attempt to bring attention to sexual harassment of men?
Or is it a desperate attempt to spin his way out of a scandal of his own making and rescue his sleazy but extremely lucrative YouTube career, which is now in danger of imploding?
The answers to these questions seem pretty obvious to me.
And now, as Laci Green points out in the video above, women are coming forward to tell of their own (alleged) encounters with Pepper. Their stories paint a picture of Pepper as an overentitled sexual predator who uses his internet fame – he’s got 2.4 million YouTube followers – as a tool to exploit and abuse young women – and teenage girls.
Below, I’ve posted a video from the woman who says Pepper raped her. It’s harrowing to watch — and a big TRIGGER WARNING for graphic description of the alleged rape. She has also provided a written account here, including screenshots of texts she allegedly exchanged with Pepper.
I say “alleged” because the case has not been proven in court. But I believe her.
You can find another video from an accuser here. Laci Green’s Open Letter to Pepper — written before the latest round of accusations — is here. Green has been getting threatening emails that seem to be coming from Pepper himself; Pepper, on Twitter, claims that his email address is being “spoofed” and that the threats aren’t coming from him. Buzzfeed, meanwhile, reports that Pepper is also being accused of soliciting nude photos from an underage girl. Another girl claims that Pepper sexually assaulted her when she was 15.
Follow Green on Twitter for updates as this develops. I suspect this is going to get even uglier still.
That parody video is FABULOUS. So fabulous, in fact, that is could have almost nearly not-quite maybe-some-day-in-the-future killed me. BECAUSE MURDER AWARENESS!!!11!1
You know, I lurk a lot and I frequently try to imagine how I would go about making a series of prints that make fun of these people. I have a senior show coming up after all (I’m about to graduate with my fine art degree! W00t *throws confetti*) and my most darkly humorous/satirical pieces have proven strongest so far. Of course I’m not in a print class now, but I’m always welcome in the studio. It would be a fun and cathartic project to start.
Rest assured, I will share all designs here and acknowledge this blog if this idea comes to fruition! All of you inspire me. I don’t know how any of us would survive these high levels of misogyny radiation if it weren’t for humor.
Oh, and most of those people in my life who have downplayed my humanity and right to loudly and defiantly stand up for myself are no longer people I regularly hang out with. The only thing that sucks is one of the worst of them is dating an old friend of mine so I get to hear about him way more than I’d like. It’s such a weird feeling when someone you deeply care about is dating someone else whose company you can’t share for more than an hour without the shit hitting the fan. He likes to be the alpha in every gathering, I like to be alpha around alphas (I’m contrary like that) so…now the boyfriend and I basically have shared custody of my friend. I get one weekend out of three and Tuesdays. 😛
Wheeeee! Congrats-ahead-of-time!
In the US, if someone walks up to you and handcuffs you without your consent, you’ve got a good case for unlawful restraint and can sue his scrawny butt off. In fact, handcuffs are illegal in some states.
“Nobody needs an excuse for telling someone to back the fuck up and stop ignoring their boundaries If people are demanding an excuse when you attempt to do so, they’re probably not good people to be around, especially if they don’t get it when you try to explain why you shouldn’t have to give them what they consider a valid “excuse”.”
This is so important. A comparatively trivial variant – but I encourage my family members, when talking to sales people, to just tell them “no” or, perhaps, “no, go away.” Giving them an excuse invites them to argue with the excuse. All they need to know is that you don’t want to interact with them. And now they can go the fuck away. Your rationale for wanting or not wanting is none of their business.
Very true, Doug, but it’s also worth noting that people do understand how “soft refusal works, even if it’s convenient sometimes for them to pretend they don’t.
Doug, I’ve had that problem with salespeople imposing themselves on my mother, who’s not good at saying NO. Twice, three times we ended up with different power billing companies because some fast-talking shitbag came to the door and persuaded her to sign up with their oh-so-wonderful offer.
Since then I have put a sign with big red letters up telling salespeople to Go Away. It works.
I’m not saying that it would necessarily be a good thing if the net woman he “pranks” were to bring down her heel sharply on his foot, striking roughly midway between the toes and the ankle so as to maximize the chance of breaking a tarsal or two; but that is a thing that could happen. I’m just sayin’.
If someone randomly cuffed me I’d probably turn around and smack them in the face, if we’re being honest. And then ask them what the fuck they thought they were doing.
Like, are you a cop, and are you currently in the process of arresting me? No? Don’t try to put handcuffs on me, then.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/jogging-us-marshal-kicks-man-in-the-crotch-arrests-him-after-he-yanked-down-her-shorts/
Pepper probably picks targets a bit better….
Memo to self: Acquire sword-cane, it will come in handy when plantar fasciitis strikes again, and will look great with new black feathered hat. Also NO SOLICITING sign.
And regarding “what to do in case of sexual assault”, the answer is ANYTHING THAT GETS YOU THROUGH IT ALIVE, HONEY. If you avoid a situation because it seems hinky, even if you risk not having the time of your life, you did it right. If you freeze like a deer in the headlights, but survive, you did it right. If you black out from pain and fear, but survive, you did it right. If you scream like a banshee on acid, but survive, you did it right. If you fight like you’re up against Mike Tyson, but survive, you did it right. Whether you totally wuss out or whether you kill the motherfucker with your bare hands — if you are still alive, you did it right.
If Sam Pooperhead decided to do that handcuff/butt-grab thing on me, my heel will meet his foot, my elbow in his midsection and/or foot or back-fist in groin! I’m glad this freak’s getting his just-desserts!
I’m not going to look at Pooperhead’s videos because I don’t want to give him traffic.
My heart goes out to the gal he raped. I hope she finds the help she needs and makes some sort of recovery. Same for the ladies in his videos.
And now this is up on the Men’s Rights subreddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/2hmqdu/david_futrelle_defends_his_right_to_call_a_man_a/
Apparently you’re not allowed to think anyone is guilty of anything unless they’ve been convicted in court, and if you say what you think out loud it’s libel. Courts are always right! (Unless MRAs disagree with their verdicts, of course.)
And he links to his blog post, where he (as is typical for MRAs) tries to compare this to lynching. Nope, you don’t get to appropriate other people’s experience of oppression, just because you’re not oppressed yourselves, MRAs.
I have a swordcane, and it’s kind of crappy as a cane and kind of crappy as a sword. I don’t use it. When I need a cane, I use a different one. It was a gift; I would never have bought it for myself. I have found them at cons, and they are always kind of cruddy, or else they cost a breathtaking amount of money. This one came over the internet and the buyer never saw it until I opened the package.
I can only say that if you plan to get one, buy it in person, not over the internet. Too many shoddy swordcanes floating around out there, and the ones that aren’t shoddy are well over my budget.
RE: strivingally
Very true, Doug, but it’s also worth noting that people do understand how “soft refusal works, even if it’s convenient sometimes for them to pretend they don’t.
This is why I’ve got the Goon Spray. I tend to lock up when harassed on the street, because part of my abuse history is the abuse being doubled if I actually dared say no. My vocal abilities shut down a lot.
So I figure, cut out the middle man and go straight to the spray bottle!
That is delightful. My favorite bit is “The marshal hurt her pinky finger in the fight.”
I wish there was a way to get video of people’s surprised faces when you spritz them. Bad street harasser!
Oh gawd, you guys…it gets worse. He’s done this to others, too! No wonder that girl’s video spooked me so much. I thought it sounded like he’d had some practice at rapey shit, because he was so quick and efficient at attacking. I was right — he HAS had practice! Lots of it, by the (awful) sounds of things.
So. The “fake” ass grab video he grabs asses with his real hand and pretends it’s a fake had, right?
Well, he also has a “fake fingering” video and the still has him holding a fake finger. I’m not going to link to it and I’m sure as hell not going to watch it to find out, but…
*nods* Yeah, no effing kidding he’ll have done it before. By the time one of these slimeballs gets to the point where people notice what’s going on, they have form. By the time they commit their first actual assault, they have form. Someone like Mister Funny Grabass here starts in the supposedly grey areas (sneaky inappropriate touching and all the other not-actually-grey stuff that we’re conditioned to ignore), and works his way up. If caught in the act, they like to pretend that the incident was a one-off, a total aberration; it never is. Ever. The creep always has form.
Your instinct was entirely correct there, is my point.
You have plantar fasciitis too? Solidarity hugs! D’you have to wear orthotics or anything?
Also BLACK FEATHERED HAT yesssss!
I will never allow plantar fasciitis to strike again, sword cane or otherwise. It stripped me of years of anything that involved my feet supporting my weight. Never again.
How did you defeat it, or deal with it, marinerachel?