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JUST A PRANK!
Published on: 12/28/2009.
by TRACY MOORE
A VIDEO CLIP circulating on the Internet called "Barbados Flogging, Brutality, Coach Of St Leonard's Boys' Cricket Team Goes Wild On Bad Students" with a teacher brutalising two boys with a belt in a room is a hoax.
According to the teacher, Michael Franklin, who was named in the video, as well as two parents, one of whom is the mother of one of the boys in the video, it was all a prank.
The video uploaded onto YouTube.com showed two boys receiving blows all over their hands, heads and shoulders with other voices in the background filming, talking and some chuckling.
Went berserk
The individual who uploaded the clip, under the name bajanreporter, wrote: "St Leonard's Boys' School cricket coach flogging pupils on a school trip, it appears some fellows went to a strip club and got back late - the teacher went berserk. Yes, they were wrong but to be treated like plantation slavery days?"
The same clip was uploaded by another online author bajandream who linked it to a website antillean.org, a pan-Caribbean non-profit media outlet, covering news, features and opinions on social issues in the Caribbean region and the wider Americas.
However, when the DAILY NATION spoke to Franklin yesterday, he said he was never contacted to find out what really happened in the video.
"First of all, no one went to a strip club, no one was in trouble. That video came out last April. Second, parents were there. And third, the boys were video-taping and felt that they would have some fun.
"What you are seeing on the clip is not a consequence of anybody doing anything wrong. It was a dramatisation. It looked so real, but it was a prank and parents were there. We were doing some filming and everyone was in one room," he stressed.
Franklin admitted that the video looked more real than amusing, "but the boy and his brother put it on facebook.com [in April] and people were a little annoyed. Now it has come back up again with someone writing something on [the video]".
Parents were there
Kay Brome, the mother of one of the boys in the video, also said that the video was "only a prank".
"There were parents there and I was one of the parents there. I was in the room. It was just a prank and a demonstration. There was nothing to be alarmed about. The boys had a camera and they wanted to videotape. It was just a fun thing.
"I didn't know it was going to get to this level. People wrote things there and made people look like something happened. The boys were not getting beat. It wasn't anything serious and there is nothing more to explain to it," she said.
* tracymoore
@nationnews.com
23 comment found!
Controversial Position : 12/29/2009
I'm am by no means a video analyst but having viewed the video on Facebook several times I cannot see how this could possibly be a "prank". The response from Mr. Franklin and Kay Brome leaves more questions than answers. Who was this "prank" on? Where were the parents positioned in the room (the room appears to be very small)? How many parents were in the room besides Kay Brome?
Again I'm no expert but Mr. Franklin's anger seems quite real and the body language of the students seems very real as well. Incidentally today the title of the video on Facebook changed to indicate that this wasn't a "prank". I'm inclined to believe this is the case.
Contact : 12/29/2009
Hey Nation, did you contact "bajanreporter" as it seems you did not leave every stone turned. You say no one call the teacher, but what about the youtube story? That popular site has ways to leave messages for its users, didn't you know?
i don't get it : 12/28/2009
why everybody up in arms about this? a while back some young men circulated a video of themselves, comitting abominable acts with a goat. no one said anything about that. things that make you go:
Hmmmmmm...
: 12/28/2009
did not look real to me from the start
..........
and I also saw it on a certain Blog Bajan Blog with comments too.
: 12/28/2009
Just remember once something is put on the internet it is out there forever. This goes for not only this activity but any other foolish idea someone else might have. To think that they were adults there. Hmmmmmm
Will wonders never cease! : 12/28/2009
After viewing the clip, I did wonder out loud who takes a strap to an overseas trip. But a prank! Wonderful!! Please remind me who were the adults in this situation again. After all the "talk" by the Min. of Education and the public on the call in programmes about the misuse of cellphones; we have parents and adults brushing this off as "nothing to explain". Good luck getting children to use technology (cell phones, the internet) appropriately. Once again my people have demonstrated that authority & common sense can be mutually exclusive.
: 12/28/2009
What do we expect. Have you noticed that in many local plays, when we are not mocking the elderly we are pelting licks or fighting with some one? is that our culture?
: 12/28/2009
The Police ought to get busy and find those responsible for this malicious act, and the Court should not be soft on the culprits either. Innocent people should not be hurt by this type of irresponsible behaviour. All of this unnecessary suffering caused by cell phone cameras,videos and the internet is making life so unenjoyable these days, that it just can't be funny for who ever think it is. This video could have been used in many ways as a positive learning tool.
Retired.
Prank : 12/28/2009
In the age of YouTube you shouldn't monkey around with such serious subjects as brutality.Even with clarification after the video is posted and viewed,some people are still going to insist that the incident is real.
It Was Stupid Not Fun : 12/28/2009
I have since seen the video and read some of the reviews in question and I would go further to say that this was one ignorant idea from adults too. As for the unforgiving internet, there is now a link to the above article asking for the whereabouts of the other adults? Look at how children can be smarter and more coniving than big persons. The ministry should wake up, be the employers as well as to set and have all teachers and heads adhere to strict protocol during school hours. This would be prime example of what should not occur on school premises or during school hours. All I could say, while viewing the nonsense was to look at what our tax dollars promoting. Where is the life lesson or moral to the story here? You don't beat children for going to a strip club, you inform the parents who should dock pocket money, tv, all other communication devices and set curfews instead. The parents involved here should have been the ones playing the role of those getting the flogging, it would have been easier to explain.
Prank : 12/28/2009
Those 'parents' should have been more responsible and should have thought of the consequences of their children's actions. Negative stories can be damaging to our image even though they may prove to be false.
youtube / youfool : 12/28/2009
Technology gone mad. Nothing is true anymore.
Reputations will be ruined; history will be distorted. The Media has now got to check each story before making a fool of itself.
Different Times : 12/28/2009
Next time think first, these are different times and there are persons out there without any good intentions. This "fun" act should not have been taped. Knowing human nature the truth is always overlooked in favour of what seems to be the more exciting version of the story. I truly hope that there is some way to salvage this situation on the regional and international side, the internet is very unforgiving.
: 12/28/2009
Kay Brome, you need a flogging.
Lashes : 12/28/2009
The video as seen on both sites shows only one adult, where are other guardians? Why say this now and not back in April? What outcry was there?
Hoax my foot : 12/28/2009
The internet and modern technology will continue to get our people and entire countries into trouble and cause irreversible damages . Why did these adults not put notes or something saying that this is not real only a dramatisation? Aspiring film makers and directors should take good notes and find out what not to do before going public. Did they meaning the adults not know the ramifications of such ? This crap goes world wide not only to this little rock . Next thing does the reporters, the editors ,proof readers and the chief of these papers check for authenticity of these stories ? We are having too many instances of this paper with sensational stories that often have too many question marks .Must we read every (story) with a pinch salt . I for one thought it was a lie since the age ,strip club and tour were mentioned .i associated this with the west indies team . If i did believe it i would have serious questions for the adult chaperones and the officals .We need to do better starting today .The news media , the parents and persons in authority .Do not wait until 2010
OMG : 12/28/2009
LOL....Wanna no that wanna gun get in trouble tho because it was on the Radio and thing..and ppl was complaining about it saying thats not the way to treat children..lol.it does look Mock to me....
Tsk Tsk
prank : 12/28/2009
Very immature action on the adults' part.People need to stop and think before they put stupid videos on the internet .Why do people think that they have to do such stupid acts just to get noticed?We are living in a society that seems to be starved for attention , a society where people would do anything to get noticed. So sad!!!!!
Malicious prank : 12/28/2009
The devil sure finds work for idle hands. In view of all the recent controversey surrounding the flogging of a pupil at the school gate, I can only think of one reason to indulge in such a tasteless prank, thoughtless morons. God gave us all a brain but some of us never use our brains. To put something like that on the WWW on You Tube will reflect very badly on Barbados.
The Teacher and Parents Should be Ashamed!! : 12/28/2009
Children are supposed to look to their parents and teachers for guidance. What example did this teacher and parents set for the children in going along with that nonsense. I saw the video. It is totally inappropriate for teachers and parents to participate in such behavior with children. That video is circulating on the internet, and some people will believe it is a true depiction of what is going on in Bajan schools.
Just a prank? : 12/28/2009
Yes, there is something more to explain, Ms Brome;...WHY?
prank : 12/28/2009
in all things good some idiot always put a different twist. This is the world we live in, the price of progress.................
: 12/28/2009
It just goes to show some people do idotic things you would think a parent should know better than to allow a so call PRANK to be filmed
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