A current TikTok video of an older Tennessee man threatening two younger fishermen and breaking considered one of their fishing rods has the web in an uproar. The footage has spawned a number of follow-up movies together with a doxing try. It’s the newest (however actually not the primary) instance of the borderline violent encounters that typically happen between public anglers and personal landowners.
TikTok person and fishing content material creator @fishn_shi posted the unique video on July 3, together with the next caption: “Drunk karen breaks my $200 St. Croix rod.” The person didn’t reply to a request for remark, so lots of the particulars behind the incident stay unclear.
Fishn_shi recorded the video on his cellphone, and he could be heard within the background because the older man confronts him and his buddy on the shore of a lake in Knoxville. The title of the lake and its possession are unknown, however fishn_shi wrote in a remark that it’s situated within the Admirals Touchdown neighborhood. A number of massive suburban properties are seen within the background, and at the very least two different owners had been concerned within the confrontation.
The older man is already ticked off in the beginning of the roughly one-minute-long clip. He seems to be intoxicated (and at one level he admits to having a drink earlier). Whereas the 2 boys movie on their telephones, he approaches fishn_shi’s buddy, grabs a fishing rod from the boy’s hand, and breaks the rod over his personal leg. The person continues to hurl insults as he repeatedly claims the boys are trespassing on the privately-owned neighborhood lake.
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The video is closely edited, nonetheless, and it’s unclear what precisely led to the rod breaking. Due to the unique video’s recognition — it’s gotten practically 19 million views in lower than per week — fishn_shi shared further clips on July 6 and seven. Titled Half 2 and Half 3, the movies present extra of the confrontation that ensued.
In Half 2, two different owners accuse the boys of trespassing and mendacity about their names whereas the older man retains attempting to run them off. At one level, the aged lady refers back to the rod-breaker as “the president,” presumably of the native home-owner’s affiliation. She says he “has lived right here for years” and “is aware of everybody that lives in right here.”
The boys seem to stay calm in the course of the confrontation. However a brief phase from Half 3 reveals that they weren’t afraid to egg the older man on.
“You’re proper, I had a drink. Is that towards the regulation, dumb shit?” the previous man says in Half 3 after one of many boys claims he can odor alcohol on his breath. The boy then says they’ll look forward to the police to reach, and the person says he’ll, too. He additionally threatens to snap considered one of their fishing poles in half in the event that they make yet another solid into the lake.
“No, you’re not. As a result of the police are gonna press expenses on you … We’re exhibiting the police this video and also you’re gonna get arrested,” one of many boys says. “I can’t wait to see you stroll away in handcuffs.”
The younger fisherman then makes a solid, and the previous man follows by on his menace. He grabs the fishing rod from the boy’s hand and snaps it over his thigh like a twig.
At a number of factors within the movies, the person threatens to name the police and press expenses towards the younger anglers. The movies don’t present how (or if) the state of affairs was resolved, and it’s unclear if anybody was charged with against the law. Nevertheless, two self-appointed web investigators have tried to resolve the controversy.
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On July 6, TikTok person @TizzyEnt shared a video put up analyzing fishn_shi’s movies. He defends the 2 younger fishermen and calls the older man “a drunk, entitled, impetulant [sic] baby.” Together with another social media customers who’ve shared their opinions on varied posts, he contends that the boys weren’t trespassing on the personal neighborhood lake — both as a result of they’d permission to fish or had relations who lived there.
“I talked to the younger man,” says TizzyEnt, who claims that he despatched fishn_shi a Bass Professional Outlets present card value $250 to switch the damaged rod. “His mother and father got here and declined to press expenses towards [the older man]. They might have pressed expenses towards him as a result of he’s the one who broken their property and assaulted them.”
Along with offering commentary, TizzyEnt identifies the older man within the video by calling consideration to one other follow-up video shared by Danesh, a content material creator and YouTuber who identifies folks on-line (often known as doxing). Danesh claims that the older man is a Knoxville resident named Matt Webster who works at United Neighborhood Financial institution and serves because the chairperson of a neighborhood Haiti outreach program. He additionally claims that Webster has since deleted his social media profiles. These claims are unconfirmed.
Regardless, the doxing try has fueled a stream of social media-driven vitriol directed at Webster and people surrounding him. It’s additionally led to instances of mistaken identification as there are at the very least two males named Matt Webster who dwell in Knoxville. Earlier right now, the nationwide nonprofit group often known as Haiti Outreach wrote in a Fb put up that it has acquired many hateful messages although it has no reference to the older man within the video. In the meantime, a person named Matt Webster who works for United Neighborhood Financial institution in Knoxville has up to date his LinkedIn profile to make clear that he’s “NOT THE FISHING GUY FROM THE SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO.”