Following a wave of online backlash, internet personality Tre Sellers is speaking on a video showing him promising a homeless man food before eating it right in front of him.
Social Media Was NOT Happy With The Content Creator’s Video
The video that picked up steam online features Tre acknowledging, “Today, it’s my job to make sure there’s one less hungry person on the streets.”
He then approaches a man named Israel, described as being “Geeked on crack” in on-screen text, and promises to buy him a Baconator combo from Wendy’s.
After purchasing the food, Tre returns and tells Israel, “I was homeless myself, so I wanna make sure you get on the right path.”
Tre proceeds to eat the cheeseburger while staring Israel in the eyes. At one point, the camera zooms in on Israel and reads, “He was so hungry.”
The content creator continues to chow down and remark on how delicious the food is before walking away.
Controversial content creator "pranks" homeless man by buying him food and eating it in front of him. Outrage ensues on social media. | cc: tre.sellers pic.twitter.com/zkcMfFvb0l
— ZEROKLV (@ZEROKLV) April 24, 2023
This clip soon generated a plethora of backlash online, which you can peep down below.
Going out of your way to visit a city with the highest rates of homelessness, seeking out a homeless person and eating your food in front of them is weird. Some of you b*tches are just evil and weird and social media has nothing to do with it. You’re just a weirdo and lame pic.twitter.com/LeOQXzWkIf
— Cool Girl (@Tea_witdre) April 24, 2023
Offering a homeless person food then eating it in front of them is pure evil.
— Jake “JBOY” Crain (@JakeCrain_) April 23, 2023
ion think that video of that man eating in that homeless man’s face was funny at all… n tbh the way energy works .. he better be careful cause he just built himself a webb of experiencing homelessness sometime in this lifetime due to that.. n when it’s his turn to beg..
— F L E E . (@deja_iman) April 23, 2023
Cancel Tre Sellers that prank on homeless people ain't funny there's people out there really starving and you think it's a joke get fucked with a big dildo you douchebag #CancelTre
— mynameislogan (@followme39294) April 26, 2023
Tre Sellers Speaks Out: ‘Everything Was Scripted’
In response to the backlash, Tre acknowledged the matter to provide further context.
He pinned the full-length video, which was uploaded back in February, to the top of his Instagram page.
Within the full video, Tre shows that he returned to Wendy’s for another combo. However, he then sees that Israel has left the location, and he ultimately gives the food to another homeless man.
He also edited the caption to break the matter down.
“This entire video is scripted… I asked him before hand if we could make this video and he agreed to be in it. I gave him some money and food before we even started recording.”
Later, Tre proclaimed that the video was “taken extremely out of context.”
“The clip you are seeing shows me eating the sandwich and walking away but that’s not the full video. I buy another meal and come back to the spot and he left like we told him too. We then gave the other meal to another guy. THIS WAS TAKEN EXTREMELY OUT OF CONTEXT AND I JUST THE WORLD TO SEE THE FULL VIDEO.”
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Co1Mn5jP4_t/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Tre didn’t stop there, as he dished on the matter through his Instagram Story, where he continued to proclaim that the video was “fake.”
“The Wendy’s video with the homeless guy is fake. His name is Israel. He was known around the neighborhood… Everything was scripted. It was a fake video. I’m not gonna apologize because you guys don’t like my fake video.”
Sellers acknowledged that, even if people dislike the skit, he shouldn’t be receiving “death threats.”
“There is no reason to be sending me death threats, getting upset, [or] sending me hate over a skit. Just because you didn’t like the skit doesn’t mean you gotta hate me. It’s that simple.”
He reiterated, “It was a skit. It was a scripted video.” Additionally, Tre emphasized that he provided Israel with food before and after the video.
