Kanghua Ren, a YouTube prankster from Spain known as ReSet, filmed himself giving a homeless man in Barcelona toothpaste-filled Oreos as a prank. The humiliating video earned the disgust and anger of social media users around the world.
On Friday, the Barcelona court charged the YouTuber guilty of violating the moral integrity of the homeless man he pranked. Ren is sentenced to 15 months of jail time and $22,300 in damages as compensation to his victim.
Ren also received an order from the Barcelona judge to shut down his YouTube channel and all his other social media accounts for five years.
Spanish news outlets reported that the YouTuber said the prank was a bad joke and was all for show. During his trial, he was quoted saying “I do things to mount a show: People like what is morbid”.
The Barcelona judge noted that Ren raked in over €2,000 in advertising revenues generated by the video alone. The judge also ruled that the prank wasn’t an “isolated act” adding that the YouTuber also showed “cruel behaviors” toward “easy or vulnerable victims,” in his videos.
According to The New York Times, it is unlikely that Ren will serve his prison sentence. The news outlet reported “…Spanish law normally allows sentences under two years for first-time offenders in nonviolent crimes to be suspended.”
Ren reportedly uploaded the now-deleted video on his YouTube channel back in January 2017. The channel had 1.2 million subscribers. The homeless man was shown vomiting after eating the toothpaste-filled repackaged Oreos that Ren gave along with €20 bill. Afterward, he contemplated whether the prank had gone too far but callously said that “This will help clean his teeth — I don’t think he has cleaned them since he became poor