Internet Drags Soon-to-Be Dad Who Smashed Brother's Phone in Costly 'Prank'

Members of a popular internet forum backed up one 20-year-old who demanded his older brother replace his broken cellphone, despite having a child on the way.

In a viral Reddit post published on r/AmITheA**hole, Redditor u/RealisticStreet1827 (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said his phone was smashed during one of his 23-year-old brother's practical jokes and explained how he was nearly shamed into paying for the damage himself.

Titled, "[Am I the a**hole] for demanding my brother with a baby on the way buy me a new phone[?]" the post has received over 4,500 upvotes and nearly 1,000 comments in the last day.

"My brother...is an aspiring Prank YouTuber," OP began. "[I] am a big techie and I have recently been the victim of one of his stupid pranks."

Continuing to explain that he saves up to purchase the new iPhone every year, OP said that recently, his newest device was damaged beyond repair.

"The whole prank was that he sneaks up behind me, grabs my iPhone, runs to the bathroom and throws it at the wall," OP wrote. "As you can expect the phone was messed up...and couldn't be fixed."

"When I started yelling at my brother he told me he was just trying to make money for his baby," OP continued. "I told [him] that he owed me $1200 to buy me [a] new iPhone."

"He eventually [paid] me but he told me that I was taking money straight out of his unborn child's pocket," OP added.

While some YouTube users utilize the platform to showcase their interests or passion for filmmaking, others are motivated by financial gain and the prospect of turning millions of subscribers into millions of dollars.

One sect of these money-hungry YouTubers are the pranksters—those willing to push the envelope to attract as many eyes as possible.

With huge audiences and even larger bank accounts, prank-based creators like Nelk and TopNotch Idiots have cultivated fervent fanbases that tune in when new videos are released and show financial support through merchandising and paywalled content.

However, not all prank YouTubers are as successful, and in some cases, have landed in precarious situations as a result of their brazen videos.

On multiple occasions, supposed pranksters found themselves in the line of fire, and it was reported last year that a man was shot dead in Nashville after a robbery "prank" went wrong in the parking lot of an indoor trampoline park.

Although the prank pulled by OP's brother did not escalate to a life-threatening ordeal, there were costly consequences.

Throughout the comment section of the viral Reddit post, Redditors were adamant that OP's brother deserved those consequences and needed to pay up for the broken cellphone, regardless of his status as an expecting father.

"[Not the a**hole]," Redditor u/Dabbles-In-Irony wrote in the post's top comment, which has received nearly 9,000 upvotes. "That wasn't a prank, that was straight up stupidity."

"Who throws a phone at the wall and doesn't expect it to break?" they continued. "Your brother doesn't sound mature enough to have a child."

Redditor u/Ok_Wrongdoer_9672, whose comment has received nearly 3,000 upvotes, echoed that sentiment.

"Agreed," they wrote. "If you are going to 'prank' someone by damaging their property, you should be ready to pay to replace it."

"That's not a prank," Redditor u/InvestigatorLive1746 chimed in. "You break it, you bought it."

In a separate comment, which has received more than 2,400 upvotes, Redditor u/Morall_Tach offered a more aggressive assessment of OP's circumstances.

"'Aspiring prank youtube' is the stupidest string of words I've ever heard, especially if his idea of pranking involves committing crimes on camera," they wrote. "[Not the a**hole] and I pray for that kid's future."

Newsweek reached out to u/RealisticStreet1827 for comment.