A popular YouTube prankster-dad is under fire for reportedly feeding his kids ice cream laced with ground-up laxatives. CJ SO COOL, who has 5.7 million subscribers on the video site, uploaded the video two years ago. Per the Daily Mail:
In the vlog, Brady films himself dosing his children’s ice cream with Pedia-Lax and then feeding it to them. He then films 90-minutes later, showing his children screaming and crying in pain.
‘My stomach hurts,’ screams one of his kids. ‘Oh my goodness, this boy’s stomach is broken!’ he jokes.
Then, he films his youngest two- a boy and a girl, in separate bathrooms, as they sit on the toilet crying, trying to close the door on him- as he continues to hold the camera on them.
The video was removed from YouTube after last week, when babe.net reported on the video and others on CJ SO COOL’s channel. The Daily Mail contacted the police department in Henderson, Nevada, who told the paper that “There was a case that was investigated in 2016 involving laxatives and this individual. It was a joint investigation with Clark County Child Protective Services. It was submitted to the DAs office and it was recommended as a criminal case.” The county’s department of Child Protective Services said that they were unable to comment on potential investigations.
It should be noted that we can’t be certain that the kids actually ate the ice cream; it’s possible that the whole thing was faked for views (CJ SO COOL’s channel is monetized, so views = money.) In addition, babe.net has previously come in for criticism on its handling of stories, specifically in the way it dealt with its piece detailing allegations against Aziz Ansari, so a grain of salt may be warranted here.
But, faked or not, this is a pretty messed up thing to do. At best, if faked, it might encourage others hoping for some internet fame to try the same, perhaps with real laxatives and real children crying in pain. At worst, he fucking fed his children laxatives for giggles and cash. Not great.