sam-pepper
YouTube sensation Sam Pepper was slammed online after his "Killing Best Friend Prank" went viral. Reuters

YouTube sensation Sam Pepper is being criticized for a sadistic “prank.” He kidnapped Vine star Sam Golbach and forced him to watch his best friend, Colby Brock, be “executed.” The former “Big Brother U.K.” star is proud of the hoax, titled “Killing Best Friend Prank,” and shared it on his social media pages Sunday.

The 5-minute gag could not have taken place without Brock being in on the “joke.” He agreed to dupe Golbach, who screamed in terror when Brock was taken from his car in Los Angeles. He was tied up and taken to the top of a roof. Before Brock was shot, Golbach yelled, “we’re just kids” and “he’s everything I have.”

While many people on the Internet are in an uproar, Golbach says he doesn’t hold any hard feelings toward his friend or Pepper. "Going into social media I knew at one point there would be a prank like this would happen,” he tweeted Sunday. "After thinking through it all and spending the next few days with both Colby and Sam, I'm honestly not mad."

As for Pepper, he hasn’t issued an apology. He shared Golbach’s message and wrote an inconsequential tweet Monday.

Despite the widespread outrage over the “disgusting” video, YouTube will not remove the clip, which has garnered more than 365,000 views by Monday, because it doesn’t break any of their guidelines, the BBC reported.

It’s not the first time the British social media star found himself in hot water. In September 2014 an anonymous woman accused him of rape. She told Buzzfeed he forced himself on her. “He continued to do things to me against my will and then forced me to give him head, nearly choking me,” she said. “Afterwards, he threw me a napkin and told me that it was time to go.” Pepper was never convicted of sexual assault. He did not respond to the accusations.

The allegation came after Pepper, 26, posted a new “prank” where groping and pinching women on the street. He claimed the women were in on the joke.

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