Ella Scott
A YouTuber documenting the life of America’s ‘most inbred’ family has claimed he is ‘done’ with them after discovering they have been ‘lying’ to him.
Photographer Mark Laita first met the Whittaker family in 2004 when he visited their home in Odd, West Virginia.
The creative has maintained contact with the notoriously private clan for two decades, but only began documenting their lives in 2020.
His videos - posted to the beloved Soft White Underbelly YouTube channel - document the life and times of the farm dwellers, dubbed the ‘most inbred family’ in the US.
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Unfortunately, Laita and the Whittakers have been at loggerheads recently due to the alleged faked death of 67-year-old patriarch, Larry Whittaker.
It’s understood that the content creator was informed that his video subject had suffered from a suspected heart attack.
In honor of Larry’s life, Laita reportedly donated $1,000 towards his funeral costs - only to later learn that the dead man was actually alive and well.
Fans found out that Larry’s death was just a hoax in an aptly titled YouTube video called ‘The Death of Larry Whittaker’.
In the clip, Larry could be seen sitting outside of his family home, discussing his own alleged death. When asked whether he was behind the news, he said: "No, I just heard of it last night on a video.”
Laita then explained he had given Larry’s daughter - known as BJ - money after she claimed she needed it to host her father’s funeral. She later confessed her deception and apologised to Laita.
Despite forgiving her, the tensions between the social media star and the Whittakers have now escalated.
Laita reportedly handed over another $700 to the family, which Larry apparently lied about.
He claimed the cash was going to be used to take BJ to North Carolina to start a new life, but has since found out he'd apparently kept the money and not taken her anywhere.
In a recent video update called Spring 2024, Mark chatted to Larry's cousin, Jason Whittaker, about the situation.
“I said 'As long as you're taking your daughter to North Carolina to get her away from your family then I can continue my relationship with you guys, but I don't want to be part of you guys if everyone's lying to me'. And Larry goes: 'Yeah, I'm gonna take her tonight'."
He added: “Now I know that even Kenneth is lying to me, they are all lying to me so I'm done with them."
He said the family had been receiving money from the state before he started documenting their lives.
Speaking to Jason, he said: “I don't know what to do with them other than just walk away." To which Jason agreed: "That's the best thing to do, just wash your hands of them."