YouTube Personality Bestows False Accolade to Extremist Figure who Slights Greta Thunberg as a "Contumacious, Autistic Bitch"
YouTube creator Josh Pieters exposed his prank on far-right commentator Katie Hopkins by flying her to Prague and presenting her with a fake award. Known for her support from President Trump and her recent Twitter suspension, Hopkins received the Campaign to Unify the Nation Trophy, abbreviated as C.U.N.T. Her hate-filled acceptance speech for the award was unsettling.
The 26-year-old Pieters detailed the prank in a new YouTube video, with over 1.2 million subscribers. The effort to convince Hopkins of a genuine award was massive, involving flights, hotels, a Four Seasons dinner, and even hired actors for his fake advocacy group, Cape Town Collective for Free Speech.
Pieters, originating from South Africa but residing in the UK, created a bogus website to enhance his organization's authenticity, though there are clear counterfeit hints. The site displayed the current Ku Klux Klan leader as its founder, for example.
Pieters traveled to Prague and equipped hidden cameras to capture the prank from various perspectives before Hopkins arrived. Surprisingly, Hopkins never suspected that the banquet was a joke, despite her past tweets echoing Nazi language about the "final solution" for terrorism.
"We managed to get Katie Hopkins to travel 1,600 miles and collect a bogus award, failing to notice the dishonest label 'cunt,'" Pieters stated in the video. The viewer may ponder if this is disheartening but then recalls her hateful speech during acceptance.
Hopkins spoke hateful words during her speech, such as, "If you call Mohammad in a school playground, over 2,000 children rush over, and none of them are desired." She also derided epileptics as "weirdos," referring to Asians as "retards," and labeled Muslims as "raping their own mothers."
Hopkins repeated the claim that Muslims are "raping their own mothers" and mocked Arabic names. She even disparaged 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg as an "autistic cunt."
Paying close attention to the video, Pieters reveals one of Hopkins' emails, discussing the trip, where she suggested a meeting with Dominik Tarczynski, Poland's Law and Justice Party member.
"He is more South African than hundreds of South Africans, I believe he would be a great contact for your organization!," Hopkins wrote.
Who is Tarczynski, and why does Hopkins consider him "more South African than South Africans"? He is a right-wing political figure who does not want Poland to be dominated by Muslims, Buddhists, or anyone else, as he mentioned to Al Jazeera. Apparently, Hopkins perceives all South African whites as being as racist as Tarczynski.
Pieters concludes the video by explaining his motives for the elaborate prank on Hopkins, a truly loathsome character.
"The truth is, there's a lot of hate worldwide, and people like Katie Hopkins spread that hate and make money from it," Pieters said.
"She may spread hate, as she has the freedom of speech, but so do I. I utilized that freedom to combat her spreading of hatred by appealing to her ego and making her appear slightly ridiculous."
Hopkins has not responded to Gizmodo's email sent early Friday; this piece will be updated if Hopkins has anything to say.
Correction: This post originally stated that Dominik Tarczynski was a member of Poland's Law and Order Party. The accurate translation is actually the Law and Justice Party. Gizmodo regrets the error.
The prank on Hopkins showcases the potential of technology and 'tech' in spreading awareness and combating hate speech. In the future, such methods could become more prevalent in challenging divisive figures.
Despite her past alliance with President Trump and recent suspension from Twitter, Hopkins' emails reveal a willingness to collaborate with like-minded individuals, such as Tarczynski, who shares her extreme views.
