You know this place has laid dormant like an abandoned shopping mall; gathering dust and growing mold on the floor in front of the Ames which used to be one of the anchors holding that mall afloat. It's only until an urban explorer, a Dan Bell by any other name, rediscovers this relic and makes it known to the annals of the world wide web. I am that Dan Bell, because I have no other place I can really say my peace on what's happening here.
Now any of you who know me well know that I think prank channels on YouTube are the worst; if reaction videos are cancer, prank channels are HIV. I originally just avoided them or blocked them with my handy dandy little video blocker extension, but one special channel caught my eye, and apparently caught several sets of peepers in fact, and all of them don't look too happy. If you've been following recent events and read the title of this blog, you pretty much know who I'm talking about, but to those who hate when I tap dance around the bush like Gene Kelley on amphetamines, I'm talking about DaddyOFive.
Where do I begin? No seriously, I have no idea where to start with this trainwreck. First let's address the elephant in the room, and I'm not referring to the mother: The abuse. DOF markets itself as a prank channel, but a prank by definition usually ends with the victim coming out unharmed, if a bit embarrassed or pissed. That's not the case here, the children here are clearly in danger, but the worst of all is Cody. Cody is the Meg Griffin to DOF's Family Guy where he has been verbally abused, physically manhandled, and even emotionally scarred over some Uno cards on an otherwise spotless bedroom floor. Now this is a reality that many children face, but the main difference is their anguish and pain isn't being documented and placed online for the world to see.
Now obviously I'm not the only one to cover this, as I'm only giving my two cents worth, but other big YouTube stars like Philip DeFranco, Boogie, and even Keemstar have covered and even interviewed parents and instigators Mike and Heather Martin. At first they claim the videos are exaggerated and edited in a way to seem real, much like similar but less traumatic channels like KidBehindACamera or SillySuperpop/Grim's Toy Show. Mike later on claimed that the videos were 100% fake once allegations of abuse were starting to surface, blaming DeFranco for sending a lynch mob his way. When more eyes started turning their way, they put every video on private and only had one public video: An apology, complete with alligator tears and putting on their Sunday best for the camera. I haven't seen this much backpeddling since the Fine Bros. were losing subscribers by the millions in the wake of their REACT fiasco.
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| Someone's happy they're no longer the most hated people on YouTube |
So now that you have a pretty vague idea of what's happening, although I do suggest you guys check out Keemstar's interview and Boogie and MisterMetokur's videos on the subject, they'll shed more light than I could (I'll link them in the end), what's my opinion? Well what can I say that hasn't already been said a million times over, it's child abuse masquerading as a prank channel. I myself am a huge advocate against child abuse so of course incidents like this would bring my blood to a rolling boil, but to broadcast it online for the world to witness is a new low, especially with their subscriber count of over 700,000.
So some of you I hear out there asking "Where's Child Protective Services? This can't be legal!" It takes a lot for CPS to step in, as in unless the parents were smoking reefer and leaving the kids to fend for themselves for food, there's little that can be done, and even if CPS was to step in, they're pretty gutted as they're overloaded and underfunded, the procedure to take a child out of a home is a monumental task as in it's time consuming, and if in fact the kid is taken into foster care or adoption, until he/she gets adopted there's potential for worse abuse. What's more is that Heather isn't even Cody's biological mother, as the court system screwed his original mom for custody.
Now again, the parents and even the kids insist that no funny business is going on, but the proof's in the pudding. Abuse isn't limited to physical scars but mental scars, but the fact is kids don't know that, so when they say "We're not being abused" they're basically repeating what they've been told. These kids are going to grow up thinking that being yelled at when they cry or constantly told there's something wrong with them is normal behavior, and just so mommy and daddy can turn a profit, and then pass the buck to people like Boogie and Philip DeFranco who are doing the right thing exposing these bastards for what they are. And they have the nerve to only put their videos on private instead of taking them down outright and then make a half-assed apology video which has acting so bad, I take back every bad thing I've said about Tommy Wiseau. The good news is everyone is catching wise to their bull and calling them out in the comments.
There is simply no excuse to abuse your children and showcase it to the world wide web. Honestly child abuse is a despicable, evil, act of cowardice on its own but it's cranked up to 11 in a case like this. As much as I'm disgusted by Mr. and Mrs. Martin's attacks, I have a feeling they're mentally unhinged and it's taking a toll on their ability to raise their kids. Of course this is just me putting my psychologist hat on but it's not outside the realm of possibility. It doesn't excuse any of their actions thus far but if that's the case, at least we have a reason.
It felt amazing to let all of that out. Hopefully I'll be updating this page more often rather than every few months, so stay tuned!
Links:
Philip DeFranco's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfpzCsXGxQg
MisterMetokur's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp9jye0q2ZQ
Boogie2988's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tS3jxKvqBs
Keemstar's interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwkjOhSFpfI
