Spanish YouTube sensation Kanghua Ren (aka ReSet) thought it would be funny to give a homeless man an Oreo cookie with a toothpaste filling. The video showed the man eating the cookie and vomiting afterwards. Many people who watched the video were disgusted and ReSet found himself on the receiving end of a shame campaign. After trying to buy his way out of trouble, ReSet was arrested and tried. He explained to the judge that the cruel stunt wasn’t really his fault, but that he was only giving his audience what they demanded: “I do things to mount a show: People like what is morbid,” he said.
From The New York Times:
Mr. Ren, who was 19 at the time, filmed himself in early 2017 replacing the cream inside the cookies with toothpaste after being challenged by one of his 1.2 million followers to carry out the prank. He gave them to the homeless man outside a supermarket, along with a €20 bill. The homeless man was identified only as Gheorge L., a man in his early 50s who was born in Romania and who once worked as a shepherd before migrating to Barcelona, according to the newspaper El País. The homeless man vomited after eating the cookie.
After the posting of the video prompted widespread condemnation, Mr. Ren replaced it with one in which he visited the homeless man again and offered him another €20 bill. According to the police, he later offered €300 to the daughter of his victim in return for not filing a lawsuit.
A judge sentenced ReSet to 15 months in prison but it’s not likely he’ll spend any time behind bars because Spain usually gives first-time non-violent offenders in a suspended sentence, according to the Times.
Image: YouTube/ReSet