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Home > Tech > 7 Viral Videos You Didn't Know Were Staged (and How They Did It)

7 Viral Videos You Didn't Know Were Staged (and How They Did It)

By David Wong February 5, 2008 932,829 views
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#1.
Angry German Kid

A teenager sits down at his computer for a session of Unreal Tournament, but his mind is so ravaged by ADHD and a childhood of violent video games that he has been turned into some kind of snarling, rabid animal:

This is the kind of video that the old media loves to put front and center. TV news segments and commentators the world over have played this thing while rapt, middle-aged audiences watch all of their worst fears about the Grand Theft Auto generation play out in under four minutes.

Their attention made this one of the biggest viral hits of all time. Combine all the various versions, remixes and parodies and Angry German Kid is up in Soulja Boy territory, with views in the tens of millions. There are blockbuster movies that didn't command the audience this kid did with this one, terrifying tantrum.

Sample comments:

"Omg, he need a help!!"

"i hate mother fucking german kids. goddamn it i hope they all die."

"It's real. A German parent set up a hidden camera to show the doctors thier childs violent mood swings as well as explain why the computer keeps getting torn apart. Trying to blame video games I guess."

The Evidence:
The story repeated in that last comment, the one about the father that secretly set up the camera to capture his son's out-of-control behavior, is the one you most often see tacked onto the video (athough another variation is that he himself left it on, which is the one PC World went with in their coverage). Both of these stories appear to have been created purely to make the video scarier.

After all, it would be supremely uninteresting to find out, for instance, that the kid has made many videos, all of which feature him playing some goofy exaggerated character. Well, too bad, because that's the truth.

The kid (often referred to as "Leopold" but his name has generally been kept out of the press since he's a minor) made the video in the wake of Germany's own violent video games controversy, when lawmakers were campaigning to restrict their sale. Leopold did his impression of the politician's worst nightmare, slamming around the keyboard and laughing maniacally as he killed opponents.

Germany's Focus TV saw the clip, and got permission from the kid to use it on the air. Leopold and his father then watched as the TV show manufactured a backstory--the one about the father secretly recording his bloodthirsty, ADHD son--which then followed the clip as it swept across the web. Holy crap, maybe we owe Fox News an apology.

Once the clip reached English-speaking audiences, even more of the context was stripped away since all they got was incoherent, enraged babble. If you get a correctly subtitled version, on the other hand, and watch it all the way through, the joke becomes fairly obvious (See the bit with the lost Escape key and him telling his opponent to eat his "melted shit").

The person who uploaded that video has edited all this backstory into the "About" section, including links to this interview with the kid himself (translated clumsily by Google), telling a depressing tale of just how much abuse he's taken since he became a worldwide symbol for what out-of-control little monsters modern teenagers are.

Ask yourself this: if Leopold hadn't been faking and was, in fact, prone to fits of wild gamer rage, would you feel more comfortable leaving the future to him, or to people like the journalists who exploited him? If given the choice we think we'd have to turn to the journalists, look them in the eye and say, "Eat his shit, journalists. In fact, eat his melted shit."

If you enjoyed that, check out David Wong's look at The 9 Most Badass Bible Verses. Or, turn your crazy photoshop skills into cash by creating an honest banner ad and submitting it to this week's 5000 penny forum photoshop contest.


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267 Comments

onscuritee, how is the letoy jenkins one racist, leroy and jenkins started out as old white southerner name , look up hillbillies name leroy, and the "at least i got chicken" part, the back story was he had just cooked some chicken thats why he what his guild was saying

6/29/2009 1:10:39 PM
pmills89

"I wonder why you misinformed people keep saying it is a fake. The sad story is, things like this aren't that uncommon outside the United States, you should open up your provincial minds and learn that United States =/= The Rest of the World." What a f*****g idiot. Cause of of course, everything that is not the US is just populated by savages. You f*****g americans just HAVE to ride in on a white horse and save us all from our barbaric ways. Do not worry, we shall receive like the superior lords you are. With shotguns.

5/7/2009 8:10:00 AM
Colombus

The "Leroy Jenkins" video is kinda racist. They used a stereotypical name and at the end of the video, you can hear the guy say "Well at least I still have chicken." Other than that bit of asshatery, this is a pretty entertaining list.

5/1/2009 12:06:45 PM
obscuritee213

2 girls 1 cup should be u[p there. The distributor was harangued on obscenity charges and had to prove to the courts that it was all faked.

4/9/2009 10:28:58 AM
YouthCounselor

i agree the teacher one is fake, but if someone starts to swing an arm to hurt you, you are going to try to jump out of the way, not just sitting there like a dumbass and let yourself be hit

3/14/2009 6:07:08 PM
blacktigercat

you can tell the window one is fake, after she falls look right above the bottom of window and you can see her

3/14/2009 6:01:29 PM
blacktigercat

Finally, people agree with me that the angry german kid is fake.

2/4/2009 2:47:47 PM
m3ntallym3

Why are spam comments not removed from these articles? zhaochuan, beavis1989, biggirl4love, and the rest of them, can eat a big steamy turd, courtesy of Cracked's legitimate fans

1/31/2009 8:48:16 PM
Nixlplix

Hey!!Anyone Who Can Fool"Furked Snooze"Has My Vote!!

1/27/2009 5:30:23 PM
TheEnemyBelow

The Rednecks and Yuppies Would Make a Good Movie!!Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston as The Yuppies and Larry the Cable Guy and Kevin Federline as The Rednecks!!

1/27/2009 5:02:39 PM
TheEnemyBelow

To Frankenslut, *ahem* excuse me but I believe this article is in the TECH section, so vague internet references would only, you know, make sense to be put in this area. If you want articles for people who don't "play videogames all day long" (which I don't but yet I still know all these videos that obviously some people have heard of, quite frankly millions) then go check out a different category, it's not that difficult! Sheesh, i find my comment here to be almost as stupid/worthless as yours was... Almost.

1/22/2009 1:01:59 PM
McDog3

If you speak German, it's pretty obvious the last one's a fake.
And yeah, Focus TV sucks balls. (Just like pretty much every other German TV show on private stations)

1/13/2009 9:33:21 AM
Simski

I'm disappointed the last one is fake.

12/16/2008 6:19:57 PM
aditi

I'm disappointed the last one is fact.

12/16/2008 6:19:34 PM
aditi

Not to mention that the way the kid was "playing," he wouldn't be killing anyone...

12/9/2008 9:58:16 PM
Arashi

Heres the thing, This site seems to be directed at people that SPEND WAAAAYYY TOO MUCH TIME on the internet, Cracked asumes everybody is in their mid 20s, play video games all day long, knows all these vauge references refering to other sites noones ever heard of. Ive never seen any of these viral videos and when a vid comes into my box I usually skip it because the payoff is never worth the time or energy I spend watching it, JUST NOT INTERESTED! Cracked was funny in the 7os as a comic book.

12/7/2008 2:26:54 PM
FRANKENSLUT

You seem to be forgetting that people on Youtube (and the Internet) are generally retarded and will believe anything they see. Similar to people who believe anything they see on TV.

10/23/2008 9:55:08 AM
sm753

i get like that too when my computer loads all slow like

9/24/2008 2:51:53 AM
RuggedandRaw

Regarding the teacher in #3: I would have been more skeptical of this video, had I not witnessed Jet Li handily defeating an entire room full of stick-wielding black belt cops in Kiss of the Dragon. Note that these are FRENCH stick-wielding black belt cops--which sort of says it all, doesn't it? It may well be protested that this movie was avowedly fictional: which is ironic, because it directly reverses the usual trend. You see, Kiss of the Dragon was actually filmed live by a reality TV crew which follows Jet Li around all the time, and all events occurred in real time. Those were not actors but real French people, whom Jet Li actually killed. Especially Bridget Fonda (although her horrifically gruesome death at his hands was unfortunately edited out of the theatrical version).

9/14/2008 11:46:18 PM
ardmore

note the post before was on my cosuins acount chicstarr doesnt have adhd his cousin does

8/7/2008 9:41:51 PM
ChicoStarr48

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