Pranking a Mother to Think Her Child Exploded Is a Terrible, Awful, No-Good Way to Make a Viral Video

I have a pretty serious case of viral video fatigue. I don’t think I can survive another highly produced rap video by wealthy suburban parents, or more parents singing in cars, or even one more pregnancy announcement. I just want to watch dogs playing with babies and feel safe in the knowledge that the dogs and babies are pure of heart and playing honestly, and that neither of them has contrived the situation to create a “viral” video and get a Subaru sponsorship. But just as I was thinking that no glossy, overproduced parent video could break through my YouTube ennui to get a reaction out of me, some execrable jackass decided to prank his girlfriend into thinking her child had died in a terrible ATV accident, and now I’m thinking that I could watch some good Christian parents cover “Bitch Better Have My Money” for the next 16 hours if it meant I’d never have to see another dumb prank video again.

Wannabe Jackass and YouTube prank video “star” Roman Atwood staged his latest “masterpiece” to trick his girlfriend, Brittney Smith, into thinking that their 3-year-old son Kane has been in a terrible accident.

Atwood arranged for Smith to meet him and Kane at a field where they were testing out an ATV to buy. When Smith arrived, Kane was sitting on the ATV talking about how much fun it was. But when Smith went to get her checkbook, Atwood had Kane hide and replaced the 3-year-old with a small dummy wearing identical clothes. Then he made it look like Kane accidentally activated the ATV and lost control of it. Both Atwood and Smith ran screaming after the vehicle, which Smith allegedly thought had her son on it. Really, it was being operated by remote control.

As Smith ran, screaming, after the ATV, it flew over a ramp, crashed onto the other side, and burst into flames.

I take some comfort in the fact that Smith seemed to catch on really quickly. Her panic looked real while the ATV was running away, but at the moment it explodes she seemed to pull back and can be heard to say, “Whaaaaaat?” I would guess that is the moment where she realized her asshole boyfriend was pranking her again.

I also take some comfort in the way she turns around and appears to kick Atwood in the stomach once she realizes that this was one of his stupid pranks.

Smith seems quick to realize what’s going on, because they both make YouTube videos for a living and this is not even the first time Atwood has pulled a stunt like this. About a year ago he pretended to throw Kane off a second-storey balcony.

Maybe she knew this was a prank from the beginning, or maybe she did not realize it until the pyrotechnics started going off. Either way, this is one heck of a dumb prank.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92agCKHpMqw&feature=youtu.be]

(Photo: YouTube/RomanAtwood)