Who is Luke Erwin? YouTuber 'sneezes' on homeless man in tone-deaf prank: 'Complete lack of empathy'
Australian YouTuber Luke Erwin is being called out on social media for sharing an upsetting video of a prank. The gag, the video of which has been now removed, sees him pretending to sneeze on a man experiencing homelessness - all of it to grab eyeballs for his YouTube channel.
The video was removed from his channel after he faced a lot of backlash online for showing no regard for those less fortunate, especially in these times when Covid has had a disproportionate effects on the poor.
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In the now-deleted video, Erwin can be seen walking toward a shirtless and shoeless man, who is pulling around his belongings. When he gets sufficiently close, he sprays the man on his bareback as he pretends to sneeze onto him. When the man turns around, Erwin continues the prank by clutching his nose with one hand while hiding the spray bottle in the other.
The man, who appears oblivious to the joke, walks away. The video has reportedly been taken down from other social media channels including Erwin's Instagram account.
Who is Luke Erwin?
The Gold Coast social media personality has 378,000 followers on his YouTube channel and is now being called out for being 'tone-deaf' in his latest video and exploiting a vulnerable person.
"Imagine sitting around with your group of friends thinking how you need new content and thinking of this bright idea to go out into the public and pick on the less fortunate," one person wrote, according to local news channel 7 News. "You have just proven that you have a complete lack of empathy towards other human beings."
Erwin also enjoyed a short romance with 'Love Island' star Vanessa Sierra, who is now dating tennis star Bernard Tomic. Just a year ago, the couple had started an OnlyFans account where they posted explicit videos of themselves. They reportedly engaged in raunchy pranks and performed sexually explicit videos for their followers on the subscription-based website, where subscribers got access to uncensored photos and videos of the couple and even got to chat with them for $9.50 a month.
History of problematic videos
Erwin apparently has a history of such pranks as his YouTube is filled with controversial videos.
In 2019, Erwin filmed himself using an air horn to frighten unsuspecting pedestrians in Sydney along with his older brother Joel. According to local reports, the pair was charged with assault over the incident after one of their victims went to the police complaining of a damaged eardrum. "If the guy's ear's hurt, yeah I do (regret it)," Luke reportedly said at the time. "I guess people might find it offensive but at the end of the day, we're just trying to have a laugh," Joel said.
The victim's lawyer Paul McGirr, however, disagreed. "(They) may think it's only mucking around, unfortunately for them, the test is on the alleged victim and how they feel as a result of that prank," he said.
