A man went viral for repeatedly pranking his blind husband. The interabled couple wants to show infantilizing people with disabilities can cause harm.

• Matthew Castle has repeatedly gone viral for pranking his husband, Paul, who is blind.
• The interabled couple are beloved by millions, but a recent video rubbed at least one viewer the wrong way.

In a video that went viral on X last month with 27 million views, Matthew Castle is seen rearranging the foyer of his apartment, removing a welcome mat, replacing an entryway bench with a tall plant, and lighting a fresh candle.

When his blind husband, Paul — who was born with retinitis pigmentosa, an untreatable eye disease — came home that day, he was disoriented and startled. Then he caught on. "I thought I was in the wrong apartment again," he laughs loudly.

While the Castles have amassed millions of followers across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, not everyone on X was amused by the prank, which was first shared on the couple's TikTok. "This is so fucked up??? ," the X user who reposted it wrote.

The Castles told Business Insider this week that while most viewers support their videos, unfamiliar commenters occasionally see Paul as a victim or accuse them of promoting pranks against the disabled. Most fans, however, are quick to defend them, including under the viral X post.

"Unpopular opinion: Visually impaired people have a sense of humor too," an X commenter wrote. "These 2 are just adorable. His partner wouldn't do something that could harm him."

The Castles see it as their mission to educate people about blindness and to debunk stereotypes.

"The infantilization, the treating people with disabilities with kid gloves on or treating them differently somehow, is actually doing more harm than just treating them like everybody else and having fun with them," Paul told BI.

"Not including me in this fun would have made me feel more 'other' than my disability already makes me feel."

'I've never met a blind person that didn't have a sense of humor'

The Seattle-based couple met online seven years ago and moved in within three months of meeting. Matthew, a self-described "natural-born prankster," started scheming from the start of their relationship.

"If I like you, I'm going to prank you," he said. One of his favorite ploys is hiding underneath sofa cushions, which he's done in every single house they've lived. "I wasn't going to not prank my own husband because he's blind."

The couple started making lip sync and dance videos during the pandemic but doubled down on content about their interabled relationship last October. Soon, their viewership skyrocketed, with prank videos being one of their most viral formats.

Paul, however, doesn't often prank Matthew back, he said. Growing up with two older brothers, he calls himself the "perfect victim" — and can always be counted on to deliver an uproarious reaction.

"I think in part that it's sort of just a survival mechanism, but I've never met a blind person that didn't have a sense of humor," Paul said.

Beyond the laughs, the pranks have had a profound impact. For Paul, with previous partners, being disabled has felt like he was "bringing a burden" into the relationships. Now, that notion has flipped.

"Not only was my disability not bringing a negative to the relationship, but perhaps for the first time in my life, I felt that it could bring a positive," he said.

There are unwritten rules around Matthew's schemes

That's not to say there aren't limits to the jokes. According to Matthew, pranks should never be conducted on strangers, should never publicly embarrass anyone, nor should they result in any physical harm or property damage.

To be fair, pranks only account for 15% to 20% of their content output, Paul said. Paul's guide dog, Mr. Maple, is a beloved staple on their channel.

Still, both say pranks will always be a part of their love story, given the "daily delight and joy" they bring — both to each other and to their fanbase.

"I like these kind of pranks because they don't hurt anybody love you guys!" a commenter wrote in response to a prank from last month wherein Matthew quietly undoes each napkin Paul is folding.

In fact, Paul finds them so amusing that he has made Matthew vow never to stop pranking him.

"If he were to stop doing it, I think that would be the first indication that maybe something was off," Paul said. "He's just kind of a big kid … which I love."