Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

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Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby KleinerKiller » Mon Apr 17, 2017 11:49 pm

Here's Philip DeFranco with the full story and clips. Warning: the footage is some of the most fucking horrific stuff I've seen recently, and I recommend just skipping over it when it cuts away from Phil if you don't think you can stomach it.



Basically, there's this guy with a decent following on YouTube, Facebook, etc who calls himself DaddyOFive. He is both a family vlogger and a "prank video" guy who, along with his wife, targets their two young sons for filmed pranks. This couple is obviously Southern and they look exactly like what you'd expect them to look like (that's the dad on the right in Phil's thumbnail), but I digress. Some of the videos are harmless, if a little mean. Others... not so much. DaddyOFive has documented himself inflicting no small amount of physical and emotional abuse, particularly directed toward his son Cody, who's exhibited progressively more disturbing behavior in response.

The footage -- at least what Phil included, because there's no way in hell I'm touching any of this fuckhead's social media -- includes such entertaining "pranks" as the parents covering their kids' floor with invisible ink and then yelling at them for several minutes as if one of them did it, dressing one of them up in a costume in the middle of the night and then having the father storm down with a gun screaming at him as if he was a robber, breaking their toys and filming their reactions, and just out-and-out shoving Cody's face down on a shelf when he's not expecting it -- resulting in a serious nosebleed and tears that DaddyOFive claims were both not what they looked like. Also filmed and monetized are Cody's many breakdowns in response to the various pranks, including tearfully telling his father that he doesn't want to be filmed anymore, which the mature adult responds to by screaming and swearing at him.

The fans of these "pranks" eat this up and have told DaddyOFive that Cody obviously just has anger issues or a mental disorder. DaddyOFive has also put out a 20-minute video in response to the recent upswelling of criticism and media attention, which consists of no apologies, obviously guided lines from the children, and repeated utterances of "fuck all the haters."

Is it all fake? Could be. It's a prank channel, after all, and those are almost universally jackasses faking shit for the lowest common denominator to lap up. But the kids' reactions, the behavior of the parents toward the kids and each other, and how graphic and violent some of the content gets leads me to believe otherwise. And so I had to post about it here, because... I'm just at a loss.
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby iMURDAu » Tue Apr 18, 2017 12:41 am

Sounds like a job for Child Protective Services. Let them kill them all sort this mess out.
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby Bromo » Tue Apr 18, 2017 1:40 am

iMURDAu wrote:Sounds like a job for Child Protective Services. Let them kill them all sort this mess out.


"It's just a prank, bro," said the dad to the female CPS worker.
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby Tesseracts » Tue Apr 18, 2017 2:23 am

I'VE SEEN THIS FUCKER BEFORE! I hate him! There are a lot of horrible people on YouTube, and he's the worst.
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby Deathclaw_Puncher » Tue Apr 18, 2017 5:26 am

Tesseracts wrote:I'VE SEEN THIS FUCKER BEFORE! I hate him! There are a lot of horrible people on YouTube, and he's the worst.

*ahem*
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby Tesseracts » Tue Apr 18, 2017 6:49 am

I first found this guy a few months ago. Some page on Facebook posted his video where he buys an iPad for his son Cody, and breaks it. The people who re posted the video on Facebook said the kid deserves it because he's spoiled for caring about an iPad, and they called him "autistic." At the end of the video DaddyOfFive reveals that it was "just a prank bro" and gives Cody a new iPad. Cody's response to this is hysterical crying and complaints that he can't trust his father. He begs him not to do this again. Of course he does it over and over again and keeps uploading it to YouTube.



There's a video where the whole family goes to Disney World. Cody is excluded because of bad behavior, and he has to stay home. The parents spend the whole video badmouthing their son on camera.

I saw the apology video. All of the kids claim they are not being abused, and they can choose to have a "prank" video not posted if they don't like it. However I don't think they understand what abuse is. The kids say if they were being abused they wouldn't have a large house, a YouTube channel, and a camera. Do they even know what the word abuse means? A house has nothing to do with it. His wife claims they have already been investigated for child abuse and the authorities found nothing.
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby KleinerKiller » Tue Apr 18, 2017 7:16 am

Tesseracts wrote:I first found this guy a few months ago. Some page on Facebook posted his video where he buys an iPad for his son Cody, and breaks it. The people who re posted the video on Facebook said the kid deserves it because he's spoiled for caring about an iPad, and they called him "autistic." At the end of the video DaddyOfFive reveals that it was "just a prank bro" and gives Cody a new iPad. Cody's response to this is hysterical crying and complaints that he can't trust his father. He begs him not to do this again. Of course he does it over and over again and keeps uploading it to YouTube.



There's a video where the whole family goes to Disney World. Cody is excluded because of bad behavior, and he has to stay home. The parents spend the whole video badmouthing their son on camera.


... I would have been at least slightly less depressed and horrified without knowing about those specific videos. Thanks, Tess.

God willing, the increased media attention on this "family" will ultimately lead to a more extensive CPS investigation, the "parents" punished, the kids relocated, and Cody in particular receiving what will almost certainly have to be lifelong therapy. I can't go to sleep tonight thinking otherwise.
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby skooma » Tue Apr 18, 2017 9:27 am

From what I can make out (on my phone, clumsily and not about to watch any of this) CPS has disgustingly low prioritization for emotional abuse, none in some states, but there's enough here to get something done anyway. No clue realistically what it would take to get a case opened.

I'm a social media moron, but could a Facebook or something against this kind of thing possibly accomplish anything? If this asshole has so many followers, he has something​to prove, I'd love to see some "haters" demanding these kids see a doctor.

I always thought more truth in media is a good thing, but y'know, context explaining why abuse is bad is obviously a desperate need. Maybe some standards for flinging around words like humanity and parent too.
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby Tuli » Tue Apr 18, 2017 4:08 pm

I read this thread earlier but didn't watch the video. It sounded horrible already. Well now I did watch the video and I have to say seeing it was so much worse than reading it. I feel sick.

It's like the parents have designated this one kid to be the family punching bag and even egg on other kids to bully him while filming it. It's beyond fucked up and I feel so sorry for that kid. I hope he and his siblings get out of that situation as soon as possible.

As for the parents, they are absolutely disgusting. Never in my life have my parents yelled at me the way these baboons regularly screech at their children - and for a "prank" no less. They have no self-awareness, no empathy, and judging from their "haters" video, no capacity for reflection. Obviously they see nothing wrong with tormenting this poor kid and his siblings, and it is despair-inducing to think they have a whole fanbase who think so too.
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby sunglasses » Tue Apr 18, 2017 4:31 pm

yeah, those aren't pranks.

That is being emotionally exploitative of your child.

What a douche.

This is how you get sent to a roach filled nursing home by your child when you're older.
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby skrotkanon » Tue Apr 18, 2017 4:40 pm

I hope the kids get out of this shitty situation asap.
With that said, how did "autistic" turn into the internets go-to insult? Neckbeard, retard nor no-life basement dweller is a official diagnosis...
It's ignorance as usual but why? Chris-chan? Sheldon? Not finding your fathers abuse funny is as normal as it gets. :/
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby RaceProUK » Tue Apr 18, 2017 4:46 pm

I'd say it's likely Chris-chan who's the reason 'autistic' is now used as an insult. Assuming by 'Sheldon' you mean the character from Big Bang Theory, I think the fact he's a TV character and is also fairly popular means it's hard to anything truly negative to stick. Chris-chan, on the other hand... I'll admit I don't know that much about him, but from what I have heard, he really did need someone to help him. Unfortunately, the Internet got there first.
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby octoberpumpkin » Tue Apr 18, 2017 4:49 pm

Yep, reported the whole channel. Not even remotely okay how they're treating their children. This is just awful.

Also hoping if enough people report it something will actually be done, that would be cool
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby Irishjava » Tue Apr 18, 2017 5:02 pm

I thought I was distressed enough about the world, but now I've got a depression cherry on my horror sundae. Those parents are fucking monsters, and I don't know how anybody can look at Cody crying and screaming "I hate you, please stop" and laugh. Fuck these people and fuck anyone who watches their videos.
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Re: Vlogger monetizes the abuse of his children

Postby Tesseracts » Tue Apr 18, 2017 5:13 pm

I have good news, Ethan is doing a video about this guy. Hopefully the publicity will lead to his channel being closed. They will still bully the kids with or without videos though, I don't know if anything can be done about that.

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The iPad video I linked is also the video where the dad shoves Cody. He pushes him into a shelf because he was trying to escape from the room. You can clearly see his nose bleeding. In another video posted to Facebook, DaddyOfFive "debunks" the nose bleeding by saying it wasn't a nose bleed, it was a scab Cody got from picking his nose. It's like, even if a video made to say he's not abusing his son, he's still bullying him for picking his nose. Also, you can't get a fucking scab from picking your nose. Notably, in the video DaddyOfFive makes no attempt to say he didn't shove Cody into a shelf. He just says he wasn't bleeding.

I saw the invisible ink video, and I see why it's the video that finally made these guys famous. They shut off comments on it. In the video, the mother spills ink all over the floor and blames Cody for it. All the other kids gather around the door of the room where the parents are screaming at Cody. It seems like they have been instructed to stand in the doorway to prevent him from leaving. Then they start blaming the other young child also. At the end of the video, after the "prank" was revealed, both of the kids are silently frowning and nobody is laughing except the parents.
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