Men from “drunk girl” video say they were duped

[Nye Bevan]

The clip, created by 20-year-old filmmaker Stephen Zhang, shows a “tall, hot brunette” in high heels shambling around L.A. sipping out of a paper bag and asking for directions, while several male strangers approach her and instead offer to take her to their homes. “I got a waterbed, I got all that,” says one, while another gentleman asks her to “hang out and go back to my spot” and yet another tells her, “I’ll take you to my place. I got some more beer too.” The clip has racked up more than 7 million views in five days. As Salon’s Jenny Kutner notes, “Of course people behaved deplorably; that’s how they’re known to behave on Hollywood Boulevard.”

Yet here’s how else people behave on Hollywood Boulevard – like performers. According to a Wednesday report on the Smoking Gun, it wasn’t just the girl in the video who was acting — and the men involved are now saying they were duped. TSG says that “According to two sources familiar with the clip’s production, the men in the video were approached on the street to take part in a ‘comedic, hidden camera’ video” and were told by Zhang and associate Seth Leach it was “student video.” The men were apparently not given release forms regarding their participation. One of them is a local street musician. Another is a tour bus driver who’s posted on Facebook this week that he’d believed he’d done “a favor for some camera crew guess this is what I get for being agreeable to someones project… it was supposed to be a funny skit.” Another man, Mike “Mokii” Koshak, works for a tourist operation. His supervisor told TSG that he’d been asked to “say a couple of lines for a comedy sketch” and “was taken advantage of.” And Koshak has shared a message he received from Leach in which Leach says, “The important thing to consider, is that this video is going to get you well known and have a future with us and our company… We are going to be huge and you are a part of it. Just go with it, dude, you are in our team now and we will take care of it.” It’s funny because if you watch the video, you’d get a sense that men who say things like “Just go with it” are to be strenuously avoided.

TSG says that on Facebook, Leach has now vowed that he’s “heading out to LA again tomorrow and creating some more viral videos for your viewing and learning pleasure!” So we’ve got that to look forward to, I guess. And whatever the filmmakers unleash next, consider this story an object lesson about exploitation and consent. It’s just not the one you originally thought it was.

http://www.salon.com/2014/11/13/men_from_drunk_girl_video_say_they_were_duped/

I did think this video looked somewhat more "staged" compared to the more authentic-seeming NYC catcalling video.

[Warpy]

1. It also looked depressingly familiar to women

Predators always zero in on any woman in a bar who looks like she's having too good a time.

[Initech]

2. Excuse me while I head to Costco to pick up some industrial size tubs of butter.

[TeeYiYi]

3. From Smoking Gun...

Worth the read. Go to the link:

NOVEMBER 12--The viral video claiming to show a series of men plotting to take advantage of a drunk Los Angeles woman was staged by the clip’s creators, who fed lines to the purported predators, dupes who thought they were appearing in a student film, The Smoking Gun has learned.

<snip>

When one of the men seen in the clip complained bitterly about his portrayal as a would-be rapist, one of the video’s creators sent a private Facebook message advising him to, “Just go with it dude, you are in our team now and we will take care of you.”

The men shown in the video--each of whom is seen trying to lure Box (seen above) to their residence or vehicle--were recruited by Zhang and sidekick Seth Leach, who, days before the video was shot, wrote on his Facebook page that he was, “Shooting some videos in LA all day Thursday and need a good actress. If you live in Los Angeles or have a friend who does and is an actress, tag them/hit me up!”

According to two sources familiar with the clip’s production, the men in the video were approached on the street to take part in a “comedic, hidden camera” video. One source, who said he declined an invitation to be in the video, told TSG that he was told the production was a “student video.” He added that the film crew did not ask for participants to sign releases or any other “paperwork.”

<snip>

http://thesmokinggun.com/documents/drunk-girl-viral-hoax-video-785463

TYY

[arcane1]

4. While the film makers may have meant well, it can also backfire.

There is a real risk of getting a "well it must not be really that bad" response if one fakes something, even if they're faking something that actually happens

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. Can you help define "meant well" for me?

I'm having a hard time finding the good intent behind defrauding people to participate in a video meant to reinforce stereotypes... even if it does sell lots of QFC turkeys.

[arcane1]

7. If it was intended as a PSA or something like that. But I don't know their motives :(

[Bluenorthwest]

11. Content is not a consideration in terms of the exploitative and fraudulent nature of the actions of

these producers. Bad, wrong, reprehensible.

[JI7]

9. are they asking for money on this video like the catcalling one ?

the thing is the issues are real but people sometimes use it for their own purposes.

the way the catcalling one mostly focused on the black and hispanic guys because that is probably more likely to get people upset than if it included some white guys, especially wallstreet types.

[arcane1]

12. I don't know anything about it beyond the OP

I haven't even seen the video

[bettyellen]

17. Wall Streeters tend to cat call less, but grab ass a hell of a lot more. Groups of them would sneak

up and one would grab your butt or side boob, and they'd laugh because there's a bunch of them, and they know you have no idea who did it. Because they knew as well as you did, cops aren't going to do shit to a bunch of white guys in suits that stick together.
Working down there was the fucking worst.

[JI7]

18. many businesses that get a lot of suits

as customers pressure the female employees to let them do and say as they want and to just smile and act like they enjoy it.

the suits act like they own the place .

and i agree that they are more likely to go beyond words and grab, touch etc than the ones in the video or construction worker types.

[UglyGreed]

5. I watched this video with my daughter

Last edited Thu Nov 13, 2014, 06:18 PM - Edit history (1)

last night. She thought that any girl would be stupid to get so drunk and the men were jackasses. So I thought I got a good response from her anyway.

[JI7]

8. they do all appear to be acting (very badly) , the way they talk kind of louder

than most would and just seem to be making a big show of it. kind of like how people who can't really act would do when told to act out scenes.

[RedCappedBandit]

10. Was clearly staged

The creators of the video lost their credibility setting it up in this manner and did a disservice to a very real issue.

[Xithras]

13. These guys should lawyer up and send the filmmakers into poverty.

The filmmakers deliberately committed fraud and misrepresented their participation in the video, and in doing so caused very real harm to their reputations.

[LostInAnomie]

14. No kidding. They did imply these men were all rapists...

... or at least potential rapists.

[99Forever]

15. Please note my reaction when this phony "expose' video" was posted.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5803641

Broadbrush stereotyping bullshit. Does anyone actually believe this kind of outrageous crap serves ANY positive purpose?

[sendero]

16. The purpose it serves..

... is to try to build a reputation for the creator. Who is a douchebag and I hope the blowback permanently disables his attempted career.

[linuxman]

19. Color me shocked.

How I ever helped that girl back to the bar to retrieve her credit card without fucking her in an alley while in college is beyond me.