Youtube and the Hood Prank

YouTube, Race, and the "Hood Prank"
YouTube has been described as a, “…participatory culture in which to develop, interact, and learn” that is especially attractive to youth largely due to its ease of access and free participation. YouTube is a participatory culture because the audience’s participation in the YouTube community (via viewing, sharing, and commenting on YouTubers) is what fuels the popularity of the video. When videos become popular (or go “viral”), they are even more widely circulated through sharing in multimodal ways across various interrelated social media platforms. One could say that these types/genres of videos become “in demand.” Consequentially, production of replication videos swells. Society (globally and locally) is flooded with these videos that become legitimated as “popular culture.” YouTube is thus a reflection of what larger participants want to watch, what entertains them and what is considered to be share-worthy.
YouTube popular content has been shown to be racialized content. Guo and Harlow (2014) found that the most popular You Tube videos were user generated content that reinforced and perpetuated racial stereotypes of African Americans, Latinos, and Asians. Videos that contain stereotypes demonstrate popularity not only in the number of views, but by the interest in the videos evident by the number and content of the comments generated in reaction to the videos. Guo and Harlow also found that videos that contained racialized stereotypes correlated with increased numbers of comments.
YouTube popular content is also "humorous" content. One largely popular genre on YouTube is known as a "prank video." The subject and method of the prank varies widely, but the all share the premis that the "prankster" performs an act that surprises, scares, or offends the person/people being pranked and documents their reaction. These videos and the actions of the prankster are highly controversial, and may even be criminal. A popular YouTube prankster named Sam Pepper received a tidal wave of backlash regarding a "prank" which involved him grabbing women's butts. Women accused Pepper of justifying "sexism and sexual assault" by calling his actions pranks.
Sexism and sexual assault have been attempted to be excused by pranksters and their supporters, but pranks may be used to covertly express racism and excuse racialized assault. It is at the crux of supposed humor and race where a recent genre of prank video has emerged. Titles may vary, but the "ghetto prank," "hood prank," or "prank in the hood" videos are sub-genres of prank videos in which white male You Tube content producers (or "Youtubers") go into places they qualify as "ghetto" or "hood" where predominantly black people are subjects of the video. The Youtuber then performs what they call a "prank" on people of color. Vitaly Zdorovetskiy credits himself with performing and posting the first prank "in the hood" in 2012 where he disguised himself as a zombie and chased black people in Miami while grunting and snarling. This area choice and timing were poignant as in Miami, prior to the video being made, a man under the influence of the drug "bath salts" attacked another man and partially eaten off the man's face.
Hood pranks have been called out for being racist, humorless, predatory, and criminal.

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