can someone archive this so the eu fam can read this? site blocks eu
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The visit to Seward of Youtube personality Paul Denino, who goes by the handle Ice Poseidon, began on a high point Thursday night with an exorbitant tip to a waitress at a local restaurant before spiraling downhill and ending with a car wreck when Denino was startled by a staff person at a local motel, who stepped out of the building carrying a gun.
No injuries were reported, and no shots were fired. A staff member at the motel declined to go on the record, saying only that the incident was an example of, “a prankster getting pranked.” This article is based on live footage from the evening that a Seward Journal reporter viewed and on an interview with Denino.
Denino, 24, is one of a growing group of people who make money by streaming live video of themselves on the internet. The activity, called livestreaming, first became popular among video game fans, who would stream video of themselves playing certain games. Denino operates on a slightly different paradigm: he streams video of himself “in real life” and runs a website dedicated to his streams.
Thousands of fans watch Denino’s videos. They donate money to him and send messages, sometimes innocuous compliments, sometimes strings of obscenities and ethnic slurs. Some go even further, calling the real-life restaurants and businesses that appear on Denino’s streams.
By his own admission, many of these callers are trying to make Denino’s life more difficult. Some will just ask for him, but others will say that he is carrying a gun or a bomb or paying with counterfeit bills. Restaurants that kick him out will get a flood of negative reviews. Those that play along may get the opposite.
“It’s definitely not fun sometimes, but it’s my job, and I try to deal with it,” Denino said. “It’s how I make my money. I built this huge community of people and I’m not going to give up on it because a couple of jerks want to try to ruin my life or get me killed.”
Seward got a taste of all this Thursday night.
Denino, who lives in California, arrived in Seward late last night in a project to stream a visit to Alaska for seven days straight. On his arrival in Seward, his stream showed it had been live for over 50 hours. With him in the car was another man who declined to go on the record for this story, but said he was a long-time fan of Denino’s who caught up with him in Anchorage.
With thousands of fans watching online, Denino and his fan ate a meal at the Highliner in downtown Seward. Denino paid the $108 bill, and added a $600 tip, all of which he displayed on a live video stream. He first came to the attention of the Seward Journal when a viewer sent a message to the newspaper about the tip. The viewer said he was watching from Colorado.
Within minutes, the Highliner’s page on Yelp racked up dozens of new five-star reviews, most of them laced with the slang and jargon of Denino’s fans.
After leaving the Highliner, the pair looked for a place to stay the night. This is where their troubles began.
When they walked into the Hotel Seward, the night clerk was already on the phone, apparently fielding calls from Denino’s fans. He asked Denino to turn off the camera. Denino said he would, but merely turned the camera so that it was pointed at his feet. A caller apparently informed the clerk of this, because the clerk soon asked him to actually turn it off.
In the end, the clerk asked Denino to leave. Denino then drove around downtown Seward, asking a few pedestrians if he could stay at their homes, but getting no takers.
After a brief drive up Jefferson Street to view the local hospital, Denino turned north on Third Avenue and sped down the street. His speedometer, visible on the video, indicated that he was driving between 45 and 50 miles per hour.
After an online search for other hotels, Denino and his passenger drove to the Marina Motel at Phoenix Road and the Seward Highway. They walked into the lobby, but found no one at the desk. Waiting for a few minutes, they then grew alarmed, with Denino saying he thought he heard someone cock a gun.
They returned to the vehicle, and backed the car up to the motel entrance, and discussed their next step. They would go back into the office, but leave the engine running in case they had to make a quick getaway, they said on the video. But before they could put that plan into action, chaos erupts.
It is not clear from the video what exactly happened, except that Denino must have hit the gas, and seconds later the car comes to a sudden and complete stop. Denino later filled in the gaps in an interview.
A man had come out of the motel carrying a rifle, he said. Denino immediately stepped on the accelerator, but, unable to find an exit from the parking lot, drove the car into a ditch. He exited the vehicle and ran across the highway toward the harbor, he said.
Denino told the Seward Journal that he had not seen the ditch, and thought that it was a dirt patch. Denino said that a fan had called the motel and told them that he was armed. Motel staff declined to speak on the topic.
Police arrived on the scene not long before a reporter for the Seward Journal. The reporter witnessed the officer enter the motel office and leave carrying a rifle, possibly an AR-15, which he placed in the cruiser’s trunk. Before leaving the scene, he returned it to the motel.
The officer placed Denino’s passenger in his cruiser. When Denino eventually returned to the scene, the officer conducted a field sobriety test on Denino, but soon released both men.
After being turned away from one hotel, Denino sought lodging at another, where, after several hours of searching, he finally found a place to sleep.
Update Nov. 19, 11:14 a.m. This article has been updated to reflect the following edit: We originally wrote that Denino had "loitered" in the lobby of the Marina Motel. We have edited this to say that he waited, since he was seeking to do business there.
