How can an "act of kindness" video go wrong? This writer has publicly called out an Australian TikTok content creator after her parents ended up in one of the influencer's videos and subsequently were shamed by the public because of the context of the video.
News.com.au reports that writer Amal Awad's parents were walking in Sydney when TikToker Luke Erwin filmed her parents without their permission and painted them as "heartless" strangers in an "act of kindness" video.
Woman Calls Out TikToker Over Social Experiment Video
The video goes like this: Erwin, who does not have a broken arm, comes into the frame wearing a medical sling and asks random people on the street to open a water bottle for him. When Erwin approached the couple, the elder woman glimpsed at the camera, and the two walked away.
@lukeerwintv I hope this video remind you to help someone when they need it #wholesome #socialexperiment #smile #beautiful #happy #love #trust ♬ Get You The Moon - Kina
The TikTok video has the caption, "I hope this video reminds you to help someone when they need it." Erwin even added the hashtags #wholesome, #smile, #beautiful, #happy, #love, and #trust.
Erwin's video has attracted 2.6 million views but the video strayed from being wholesome when some commenters went on to attack the old couple.
Some said the two were rude and meant for refusing to open Erwin's bottle when it was clear that they saw that the act was being filmed.
One commenter jokingly said that the cameraman was not invisible this time.
Here is what other people thought: "Those first people just plain hateful!!!," "I don't understand why someone wouldn't help."
Another comment reads: "If people can't even help to open a bottle of water, then humanity is doing really bad..."
Read Also : Maono Provides All-Round Solutions in Both Audio Hardware and Software for Internet Content Creators
Erwin's video follows a genre of TikTok videos where content creators pretend to be something else and try to interact with people out on the street to gauge their reactions. In these social experiments, some even try to dress up as people from minority groups.
Daughter Slams TikTok Influencer
But it was not that long before Awad spotted the video shaming her parents. In an opinion piece published at SBS News last Wednesday, Nov. 16, Awad detailed how "acts of kindness" trend videos are not especially kind when they set up innocent people to be shamed online.
The writer called these acts mere "performances" and "monetized harassment." "My mother says what she saw was two men approaching them (the other one was filming), their intentions not clear. She didn't notice the man's arm was in a sling," Awad said.
"My parents are not dismissive, and they are not hateful," she wrote in the opinion piece.
Awad also pointed out in the article that her parents, who are in their 70s, are more than the few seconds of the TikTok video that made them viral.
The TikTok content creator has already acknowledged his mistakes in the "acts of kindness" video in an apology video titled "I can't do anything right."
@lukeerwintv I can’t do anything right ♬ Get You The Moon - Kina
The same report from News.com.au tells us that it is not the first time the influencer has been blasted because of his content. Erwin has been apprehended by authorities at least a couple of times while he was doing his videos, according to the report.
