A group of YouTubers, famed for their practical joke videos, came under fire by online viewers after they visited an isolated indigenous tribe and gave them a vape to try for the first time
News Claudia Trotman
12:52, 31 Dec 2024
A group of YouTubers were slammed online after they visited an isolated tribe and gave them vapes. The NELK Boys, commonly referred to as NELK, share videos online performing practical jokes and pranks on unsuspecting people.
Their latest escapade saw them travel to a Pacific island near Fiji and venture into the jungle to meet up with an indigenous tribe. The video, shared on Christmas Eve, did not prove a hit with their following of more than eight million, who said their idea was both disrespectful and dangerous.
Members Kyle Forgeard, Aaron ‘Steiny’ Steinberg and Salim Sirur have millions of followers over other platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. They decided to visit the mostly unconnected tribe and share the experience through an almost 40-minute video staged like a documentary.
The video, titled NELK Visits a Dangerous Uncontacted Tribe!, documented their journey from start to finish. However, when they made contact with the tribe and headed into their village, the boys documented themselves with boxes full of several packs of cigarettes in their hands.
They handed them out to the tribe one by one after the tribe were concerned due to the NELK boys making plenty of noise. They had planted fake spiders as a prank, but the noise roused the tribe to figure out what was going on.
To diffuse the situation the boys handed out cigarettes, but one member suggested while laughing: "Give them a tug of the vape." They showed the tribe how to smoke the vape, and the members tried it.
Afterwards, they encouraged the tribe to try out snus, which is a tobacco product designed to be placed under the upper lip, delivering nicotine without any smoking.
Anotehr NELK boy suggested they'd get "hooked on them". While they were laughing, online viewers have slammed the influencers for their behaviour.
One user on X wrote: "That was a trashy moves. Tribal communities are surprisingly healthy and some of them live very long lives. Bringing toxic products to them doesn’t help them." Another added: "The Nelk Boys introducing vapes and Zyns to a remote tribal community raises concerns about cultural sensitivity and health risks. It’s important for influencers to consider the impact of their actions."
"How tf did they successfully pull this off?" another questioned, while a fourth person penned: "Why would you do this to people?"
"The fact they went there only stayed one night and dipped on all of them when they were supposed to be their longer shows who they really are," one annoyed viewer expressed.
article / archive
News Claudia Trotman
12:52, 31 Dec 2024
A group of YouTubers were slammed online after they visited an isolated tribe and gave them vapes. The NELK Boys, commonly referred to as NELK, share videos online performing practical jokes and pranks on unsuspecting people.
Their latest escapade saw them travel to a Pacific island near Fiji and venture into the jungle to meet up with an indigenous tribe. The video, shared on Christmas Eve, did not prove a hit with their following of more than eight million, who said their idea was both disrespectful and dangerous.
Members Kyle Forgeard, Aaron ‘Steiny’ Steinberg and Salim Sirur have millions of followers over other platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. They decided to visit the mostly unconnected tribe and share the experience through an almost 40-minute video staged like a documentary.
The video, titled NELK Visits a Dangerous Uncontacted Tribe!, documented their journey from start to finish. However, when they made contact with the tribe and headed into their village, the boys documented themselves with boxes full of several packs of cigarettes in their hands.
They handed them out to the tribe one by one after the tribe were concerned due to the NELK boys making plenty of noise. They had planted fake spiders as a prank, but the noise roused the tribe to figure out what was going on.
To diffuse the situation the boys handed out cigarettes, but one member suggested while laughing: "Give them a tug of the vape." They showed the tribe how to smoke the vape, and the members tried it.
Afterwards, they encouraged the tribe to try out snus, which is a tobacco product designed to be placed under the upper lip, delivering nicotine without any smoking.
Anotehr NELK boy suggested they'd get "hooked on them". While they were laughing, online viewers have slammed the influencers for their behaviour.
One user on X wrote: "That was a trashy moves. Tribal communities are surprisingly healthy and some of them live very long lives. Bringing toxic products to them doesn’t help them." Another added: "The Nelk Boys introducing vapes and Zyns to a remote tribal community raises concerns about cultural sensitivity and health risks. It’s important for influencers to consider the impact of their actions."
"How tf did they successfully pull this off?" another questioned, while a fourth person penned: "Why would you do this to people?"
"The fact they went there only stayed one night and dipped on all of them when they were supposed to be their longer shows who they really are," one annoyed viewer expressed.
article / archive
