wyoh:
Oh look, it was a fucking hoax. [source]
According to two sources familiar with the clip’s production, the men in the video were approached on the street to take part in a “comedic, hidden camera” video. One source, who said he declined an invitation to be in the video, told TSG that he was told the production was a “student video.” He added that the film crew did not ask for participants to sign releases or any other “paperwork.”
Josh Blaine, the shaggy-haired man wearing sunglasses in the video, drives a Hollywood tour bus. In a message to his Facebook friends, Blaine said that he did “a favor for some camera crew guess this is what I get for being agreeable to someones project.” He added that, “it was supposed to be a funny skit. here’s to watching my back with virtually no friends. fuck my life.”
They’ve basically been portrayed as would-be rapists for the world to see and they weren’t asked any release and were not paid?!
From another article. And another.
Christine Michaels, owner of LA Epic Club Crawls, says employee Mike “Mokii” Koshak told her he was approached by the video’s maker and told to act the part of a zealous suitor for what he believed was a student comedy short film.(…) Koshak later said he felt duped by the producer when he saw the final product.
Koshak said on his Facebook page today that “the video that has me in it that’s going around the web was all staged and all of the people in it were acting.”
We were told that Koshak, who had not apparently signed a release, is now seeking legal representation in the matter.
Falsely making innocent men look like rapists so that someone can get a viral video out there is incredibly horrible behavior. I hope that tumblr spreads that this was all a set-up and that these men are actually victims here instead of giving more attention to the original video that is still going around. They now have their faces tied to horrible behavior that they did not commit and one of them already lost a contracting job over it. This is not okay.
whoops