YouTubers under fire after giving vapes to indigenous tribe that had limited contact with outside world
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/NELK
YouTubers the NELK Boys have come under fire after releasing a video in which they visited an 'uncontacted tribe' and introduced them to vapes.
The content creators, made up of Kyle Forgeard, Aaron ‘Steiny’ Steinberg and Salim Sirur, posted their video titled 'NELK Visits a Dangerous Uncontacted Tribe!' towards the end of December, and have so far racked up more than 4.5 million views.
The video features clips of the NELK Boys encountering members of the isolated community as they teamed up with adventurer Forrest Galante, who warned the tribe might view the group as a 'war party'.
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The NELK Boys arrived on a Pacific island near Fiji to begin their adventure, and quickly appeared to face conflict as members of the community rushed out to their boat holding bows and arrows.
The YouTubers were ultimately given permission to enter the community by its chief, and they experienced the group's way of life by going hunting and trying some of their food.
Towards the end of the video, the group handed over a bottle of bourbon for the chief to try, with clips showing other members of community also taking a swig from the bottle. The NELK Boys also handed over packs of cigarettes, before saying: "Watch if they find out about vapes."
The creators then proceeded to offer a cherry apple vape pen to the community, with one saying: "He's about to get hooked on them."
The Nelk Boys visited a remote tribal community and got their people to try vapes and Zyns for the first time 😭 pic.twitter.com/ROU6T1fK63
— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) December 25, 2024
As well as showing the tribe members how to blow clouds from the vapes, the NELK Boys encouraged them to try out snus; is a smokeless, moist tobacco product which can deliver nicotine without smoking.
After the creators shared the video, they were hit with backlash from viewers who criticized the creators for giving the tribe substances that they may never have tried before.
Viewers accused the group of 'polluting their authenticity' and described the scene as 'sickening' after a clip from the YouTube video was shared on Twitter.
"This is messed-up," one person wrote, as another added: "That was a trashy move.
"Tribal communities are surprisingly healthy and some of them live very long lives. Bringing toxic products to them doesn’t help them."
"You're corrupting the tribe," wrote a third.
However, other viewers have described the video as one of their 'favorites' from the creators, while some have claimed the video looks 'staged'.
LADbible Group has reached out to the NELK Boys for comment.