Michael and Heather Martin started DaddyOFive in 2015, writing in the description that they, “as a FAMILY DECIDED to make this YouTube channel just for fun.” The channel consisted of a series of vlogs and “pranks” videos of them and their five children and garnered a following of approximately 750,000 subscribers and 176 million views. As the channel’s popularity grew and the pranks became more extreme, controversy arose over claims the pranks in the videos constituted child abuse. In April 2017, YouTube journalist James DeFranco published a video titled “WOW…We Need To Talk About This….” In it, Defranco admonished the Martins videos which he felt were irresponsible. The post was viewed more than 3 million times and sparked a public outcry which led to a child abuse investigation and by September the Martins lost custody of two of the children featured on their channel. They have since published a public apology are still posting videos. After losing custody of two of their children, Michael and Heather Martin created a new channel called “FamilyOFive” where they are also posting new videos of their pranks, this time focusing on their remaining three kids. In a preview of one of the newly updated videos, one of the kids gets hit in the crotch with a ball before falling to the ground. The channel had nearly 300,00 subscribers before YouTube froze it earlier today. Hopefully, we’ve seen the last of this kind of thing. It’s okay to prank your kid, just not in the bizarre and shameless ways. Here’s a guide to how to do it right.
