A YouTube star honked a car horn at strangers for a prank video. Now he’s being sued
It was just supposed to be another prank video for YouTube star Jake Paul — but one man is now suing the YouTuber, saying Paul caused him emotional and physical damage.
Paul, who boasts 11 million subscribers on YouTube and has appeared on the Disney Channel, decided to increase the volume of his car horn and videotape the reactions of surprised strangers as he honked it at them.
“I just got my truck pimped out,” the YouTuber said in the video titled “EMBARRASSING BILLBOARD PRANK ON MY BROTHER (HE FREAKED).” “It’s got a new horn on it that, like, blasts peoples’ faces off.”
And now, as originally reported by TMZ, one man who Paul honked at is suing him for allegedly damaging his hearing and inflicting mental pain.
As detailed in the lawsuit — obtained by McClatchy — Paul and two friends, Kyler Steven Fisher and Nathan Speiser, rode around Los Angeles in Paul’s car, which was equipped with a car horn “capable of producing an unreasonably and exceptionally loud sound.”
“Let’s scare some people,” Paul said after showing his two friends how loud the car horn was in the YouTube video, which amassed more than 7 million views since it was posted in July.
Paul and his buddies then recorded the startled reactions of random passersby in the city after blaring the horn at them — including Ellis Barbacoff, who brought the suit against Paul.
According to the suit, which was filed on Oct. 10, Barbacoff was exiting a market in West Hollywood when he walked next to Paul’s car. That’s when Paul honked the horn at Barbacoff, the suit says, causing damage to his hearing and “emotional distress” brought on by the sudden surprise.
The jarring car horn gave Barbacoff “sustained shock and injuries to his body” that still leaves him riddled with “pain and suffering” to this day, according to the suit.
The suit argues that the trio of men “knew, or should have known” that blasting the amplified horn at Barbacoff was “outrageous” and would cause him “severe emotional distress.”
Because of this, Barbacoff is suing Paul and his company, Jake Paul Productions, Inc., for damages caused to his body and emotional well-being.
The 20-year-old is no stranger to controversy.
Paul — along with starring on Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark series until the company split ways with him, according to Vanity Fair — is known for crazy stunts like filling an empty pool with furniture and setting it all on fire.
According to KTLA, that stunt and others left his West Hollywood neighbors so angry that they said the YouTuber turned their neighborhood into a “living hell” and “warzone.” It was so bad that some neighbors told KTLA that they were considering a class-action lawsuit to declare Paul a “public nuisance.”
He even climbed on a van from KTLA when the TV outlet arrived at his neighborhood to cover the controversy.
In another video titled “WHITE HOUSE 24 HR OVERNIGHT CHALLENGE *NOT CLICKBAIT*,” Paul appeared to sleep in a bathroom in the White House after being invited there for a media event.
He was, obviously, not supposed to spend the night there — and recorded himself sneaking out of the White House.
This story was originally published October 12, 2017 at 1:21 PM with the headline "A YouTube star honked a car horn at strangers for a prank video. Now he’s being sued."