7 votes

Child stars of YouTube hit 'Fantastic Adventures' allegedly abused by adopted mother

2 comments

  1. elliecoral
    Link
    I'm a YouTube junkie. I love the platform, I love how I can find a video of almost any song or old TV show I'm trying to remember, and I love it when people show off their creativity with...

    I'm a YouTube junkie. I love the platform, I love how I can find a video of almost any song or old TV show I'm trying to remember, and I love it when people show off their creativity with household hacking tricks, reviews, or even memes.

    But, damn, has it attracted some psychos. YouTube is kind of a more accessible Hollywood, without the gatekeepers and couch casting, and instant fame can be yours if you're crazy, loud, or unique enough to stand out.

    This kind of news depresses and angers me, but it doesn't surprise me. It's also one of the reasons why, despite my love for it, I kind of hope YouTube implodes.

    1 vote
  2. alyaza
    Link
    for those of you who are sensitive to these sorts of things i'd obviously steer a bit clear of this one because the details are fairly unsavory. i personally haven't heard of the channel named...

    for those of you who are sensitive to these sorts of things i'd obviously steer a bit clear of this one because the details are fairly unsavory. i personally haven't heard of the channel named here, but they're a decent middle-level youtube channel it looks like. the article names them as having about 700,000 youtube subscribers and a quarter of a billion views. there are some similarities here too to the situation that engulfed the family which did the daddyofive channel, for those of you who remember when that was a big thing. this seems to be considerably more extreme than that, though.

    (also, i love that middling youtube fame is enough to drive people to do shit like this. god bless social media)


    article details:

    Police said Hackney withheld food and water, restricted restroom access, beat and pepper-sprayed the children when they failed to follow direction for YouTube videos, according to a probable cause statement from the Maricopa Police Department.
    Officials performed a welfare check after police were contacted by Hackney's biological daughter, who was informed of the allegations by her adopted siblings. During the check, officers found one child in an unlocked closet wearing only a pull-up diaper.
    Officers came in contact with the six other children, who appeared to be malnourished, due to their pale complexion, dark rings under their eyes, underweight, and they stated they were thirsty and hungry," according to the probable cause statement.
    The Department of Child Services removed all seven children from Hackney's care and has assisted in having the children forensically interviewed and medically examined.

    During an examination, a girl told authorities her adoptive mother-pepper sprayed her genitals, and afterward, she was in pain for days.
    She said that Hackey would "pepper spray all over their face and body, spank them, force them to take ice baths and when resisting would force their head underwater as well as she will make them stand in the corner with their arms raised above their head for several hours at a time."