WASHINGTON—Coming under fire for its unethical use of African Americans as test subjects, the U.S. government has faced criticism after revelations emerged this week regarding its decades-long Whoopee Cushion Project, which tested new pranks on Black people. “Beginning in the 1930s, federal authorities sanctioned a clandestine experiment to humiliate Black men and women by secretly placing whoopee cushions on their chairs, inviting them to sit down, and then, while feigning disgust, asking them if they had just farted,” said Rachel Wallace, a history professor at Georgetown University, explaining that the nearly 40-year project also involved flooding the African American community with fake gum wrappers that delivered an electric shock to people when they tried to take a piece, as well as canisters labeled “peanut brittle” that contained something very different. “These cans, when opened, released spring-loaded snakes into their unwitting victims’ faces—100% of whom were Black, and none of whom had provided their informed consent to the government’s researchers. We now know the FBI went so far as to deploy experimental pranks against the Black Panthers, once sending the revolutionary Fred Hampton a paper bag full of dog poop that had been set on fire, so that when he stomped it out, he got the poop all over his boot. The indignity these people were subjected to for the sake of ‘innovation’ in practical-joke science is absolutely horrific and amoral.” At press time, Wallace was reportedly dining in a D.C. restaurant when federal agents—seated nearby and using a telescopic prank fork extended to its full 25-inch length—swiped a rib-eye steak right off her plate.
A YouTuber was shot in the stomach on April 2 in a Virginia mall after attempting to play what he called a “simple practical joke” on a man.
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Tanner Cook is a member of the Classified Goons, a group that has been posting prank videos on YouTube since May 2022. Known as “just a couple of ‘bone heads,’” according to the group’s YouTube channel description, these pranksters have racked up millions of views across TikTok and YouTube for their typically silly and infantile jokes. One of the group’s most watched videos features popular streamer JiDion, in which he and one of the Goons stroll through stores snitching on the cameraperson filming random people in a bombastic way to start drama. Another video shows a Goon member telling dealerships that one of the cars being sold on the lot is actually their stolen car. You know, very high school, early-to-mid 2010s YouTube-era stuff. Nothing too heinous or egregious. However, a recent practical joke attempt went awry and ended in unfortunate (and unwarranted) violence this week.
YouTuber Tanner Cook shot, arrest made
According to news station WUSA9, Cook was shot in the stomach and liver while recording a Classified Goons video inside the Dulles Town Center mall in Sterling, Virginia. The suspected shooter, 31-year-old Alan W. Colie, was arrested and charged with aggravated malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and discharging a firearm within a building. An investigation is still underway, while Cook had surgery for the incident. He told WUSA9 that Colie didn’t say anything. He just pulled out a gun and shot Cook.
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“I’m fine,” Cook told WUSA9 in an exclusive interview. “I was just playing a prank, a simple practical joke, and this guy didn’t take it very well and shot me.”
Kotaku reached out to Cook and the Classified Goons for comment.
Cops responded in three minutes
In a press release, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) said that once a call was placed at around 11:57 a.m. local time reporting the incident, deputies were on the scene within three minutes. Colie, the suspect, was swiftly arrested.
“One adult male victim was found outside the mall with a gunshot wound to the abdomen,” LCSO said. “The victim was treated for injuries by deputies and members of the Loudoun County Combined Fire and Rescue System (LC-CFRS) and transported to a local hospital for treatment. At this time, it does not appear that the suspect and the victim were known to each other.”
LCSO said deputies on the scene also “checked the entire mall” to see if any other suspects or victims were present, but nothing was reported in that regard.
When reached for comment, a LCSO detective told Kotaku that the department can’t divulge much information because the incident is still under investigation.
“We do have the shooter in custody,” the LCSO detective said. “We can’t release the victim’s name or the fact that the victim has a social media presence, which you might already know. We’re limited on what we can say, but the victim is still in the hospital. Other than that, we don’t know their status.”
Despite such a traumatizing predicament that would rattle most folks, Cook told WUSA9 that the shooting isn’t going to stop him. Posting is his “passion,” he told the news station, so he’s intent to return to YouTube. Cook’s expected to make a full recovery.
