A YouTuber sparked outrage with a video where he appeared to offer food to a homeless man, then ate it in front of him

• A small YouTuber said he was going to buy a homeless person a hot meal in a now-deleted video.
• In the clip, the YouTuber brings food to a man sitting on the street but then eats it himself.

A video that shows a YouTuber asking a man sitting on the street if he wants some food before returning with a meal and eating it in front of him has sparked intense backlash on social media.

The now-deleted video was posted by Trevon Sellers, who has a relatively small YouTube channel called "whatsuptre", which has 8,800 subscribers. His videos have typically involved public pranks, which have previously included knocking down boxes at a Girl-Scout-cookie stand before offering to buy 10 boxes, and walking through shops while wearing a Confederate flag.

In Sellers' most recent video, which was reuploaded on Twitter by various users and received millions of cumulative views, the YouTuber can be seen standing outside a Wendy's, discussing the topic of homelessness in Los Angeles, California.

"Today it's my job to make sure there is one less hungry person on the streets," he said.

The video then cuts to show a man sitting on the sidewalk. Sellers asked if he could buy him a meal, which included a burger, fries, and a drink. Later on, the YouTuber returned to the man with the drink and a bag containing the food, saying, "I want you to enjoy this," as he began to take the food out of the bag.

Sellers then unwrapped the burger, took a bite out of it, and started eating the fries.

"Alright, take care have a nice day," he said, picking up the drink and walking away from the man.

When several well-known Twitter accounts — including Dexerto, an entertainment-news outlet, and the internet-commentary account Drama Alert — shared the clip, referring to it as a "prank," viewers were outraged and said the actions demonstrated by the YouTuber were cruel and an insult to homeless people.

"Man, the bolt of rage i just felt run through my body man… call this what it is, pure evil," one user wrote.

"Filming buying someone food is already distasteful. But to eat it infront of his face and UPLOAD IT is disgusting. He deserves no grace," another person wrote.

Sellers did not explicitly refer to the man in the video as homeless, and a number of Twitter users pointed out that the clip could have been staged and that the man on the street in the video could have been a paid actor. However, many users said the sentiment behind the video was still morally wrong even if it was staged, accusing the YouTuber of posting the controversial video in order to create a reaction and go viral.

"This screams a 'bit' because I lack trust in anything I see online. However, if it's true then this becomes a conversation of how far will people go to garner attention. This dude had to know it would receive this kind of reaction," one user wrote.

On April 24, the entertainment and celebrity-gossip website Hollywood Unlocked reported that Sellers made a statement via Instagram, saying that the video was scripted and that the clip was taken out of context — a full version shows Sellers coming back to the man and giving him a meal.

Insider was unable to verify the existence of this statement as it appears that Sellers' Instagram account has been deactivated. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Social media is increasingly being used to document injustices against homeless people, bringing them to the attention of millions. In January, a clip of an art-gallery owner who was caught spraying an unhoused person with water on film sparked intense backlash online after it went viral, and led to the owner making an apology.

Sellers' videos could be viewed as a subversion of the "random acts of kindness" trend on social media, where content creators film themselves buying something for, or handing gifts to, strangers. These strangers are often described as homeless by the content creators who post about them. The trend has become increasingly controversial and seen as performative, as some recipients of the acts of kindness have said they did not appreciate being targeted by these creators, nor did they consent to be filmed.

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.