Everyone loves a good sense of humor, and a solid prank can be hilarious. But sometimes what makes one person laugh can leave the rest of the internet disgusted.
Recently, BuzzFeed News asked YouTube about a disturbing video found there. After repeated inquiries into whether YouTube would remove the video or suspend the account, the platform commented the video now has an age-restriction.
But is that enough?
An account owned by “Team VZ” posted a video titled “I HAD A MISCARRIAGE PRANK (EMOTIONAL).” In the video, a pregnant woman pretends to have a miscarriage to fool her partner.
The account has almost 400,000 subscribers. After screenshots went viral on Twitter, the video’s views skyrocketed past 700,000.
And alarmed many.
The video starts with Vanessa in a bathroom applying F*ke blood to the toilet and on herself. “I know this prank is really intense and crazy, but I literally don’t know what else to do,” she says.
She claims she is scared about continuing the prank, but encourages viewers to give the video a thumbs up. Then, she squats over the toilet and waits for her boyfriend, named Zavi, to discover her there.
Zavi, distressed by what he thinks he sees, wants to call the doctor, then get an Uber to take her to see the doctor. He’s on the phone, when Vanessa finally tells him the whole scene is a prank.
“Is it too soon?” She asks.
“You don’t play like that. That’s our kid,” Zavi says as he leaves their apartment.
Vanessa pronounces the prank a success and asks that if viewers like what they see, then to upvote her video. “Let’s get this video to, like, 10K. If you think I should keep going, like, the extreme pranks.”
But instead of upvotes, viewers took to Twitter.
Team VZ did offer this response.
Eventually, YouTube tweeted an update regarding the controversy.
Some topics, like miscarriage, just aren’t funny.