YouTube has finally removed a video which claimed 17-year-old shooting survivor David Hogg is a ‘crisis actor’ after it became the number 1 trending clip on the site.
The video regurgitates a Californian news broadcast from summer 2017 which shows Hogg describing how a friend of his got into an argument with a lifeguard on the beach.
The teenager and his family moved to Florida from California, where they had lived for years, in 2014.
Redondo Beach, where the 2017 video was filmed, is just three miles from the town where they used to live and it is likely the teen was back there visiting friends.
A keen student journalist, Hogg, who was 16 at the time, said he started filming when his friend and the lifeguard got into an altercation.
He shared the video on his own YouTube channel where it gathered hundreds of views and attracted the attention of a local CBS channel which then filmed a segment on the fight.
But because it was taken six months before the shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and was filmed in a different state, conspiracy theorists deduced that it was proof Hogg is an actor who has been hired to speak around the country.
A screengrab of the video before YouTube removed it shows how it became the #1 trending clip after being posted under the title ‘DAVID HOGG THE ACTOR’ on February 20. It included footage of Hogg which was taken by CBS Los Angeles in August 2017 when he was interviewed about his friend getting into a fight with a lifeguard on a beach in Los Angeles, where he used to live
A zoomed-in image of the same screen grab taken on Wednesday morning. The video gained more than 216,000 views before YouTube took it down
YouTube finally removed it on Wednesday morning but others of a similar nature still exist
The video was uploaded on Tuesday by a user who called himself Mike M. He labeled it: ‘David Hogg THE ACTOR’.
It was viewed more than 216,000 before being removed by YouTube on Wednesday morning.
A spokesman for the site told DailyMail.com it should never have made it into the trending section and that it only did because it contained content from CBS which is considered a trusted source.
The algorithm which produces the trending rank did not detect that it was, in fact, CBS material that had been reproduced in a harmful way.
‘This video should never have appeared in Trending.
‘Because the video contained footage from an authoritative news source, our system misclassified it.
‘As soon as we became aware of the video, we removed it from Trending and from YouTube for violating our policies.
‘We are working to improve our systems moving forward.’
The video-sharing website did not respond to questions about why it took so long to disable the footage or if it will disable other videos which are similar in tone.
In the comments section, before it was removed, critics said: ‘Anyone else notices that this is the kid from the Florida shooting?’
It was soon removed but comments beneath the original CBS video also attacked the teenager.
‘Is this the same actor as in the Florida shooting videos? What were you doing in LA David?’ said one.
Since the shooting at his school on February 14, Hogg has appeared in numerous television interviews to call for tighter gun control.
The original: David posted the video himself during a visit to California, where he used to live before moving to Florida, last August. Redondo Beach, where it was filmed, is three miles from his old house. David began filming when his friend and the lifeguard started arguing and the local news segment about it focused on whether the lifeguard had been too harsh
A day after David uploaded his video to his own YouTube channel, it gained hundreds of views and CBS Los Angeles ran the story
David (above with his mother and former FBI agent father Kevin and his sister) moved to Florida in 2014 with his family, likely when his father retired. They had been living in Torrance, three miles from where the video the conspiracy theorists say is proof of him being an actor, was filmed
Trump fans and second amendment enthusiasts, including Donald Trump Jr, have criticized his comments and say that he should not be trusted because his father was in the FBI.
Those same critics blame the bureau, which was warned twice about gunman Nikolas Cruz, for not preventing the shooting.
Among them was Benjamin Kelly, the aide of Florida congressman Shawn Harrison who was fired on Tuesday after telling a Tampa Bay Times reporter that Hogg and his classmate Emma Gonzalez were actors who travelled around the country to act as liberal pundits on camera.
Kelly sent an unsolicited email to the newspaper’s reporter Alex Leary which said both children were ‘actors’.
Congressional aide Benjamin Kelly sent this email to a Tampa Bay Times reporter about Hogg and Emma Gonzalez, his classmate, on Friday
Reporter Alex Leary posted it on Twitter. They said that Kelly followed it up with a link to a conspiracy video afterwards
Benjamin Kelly (above) was fired after sending the email to a Tampa Bay Times reporter
Donald Trump Jr. liked a tweet on Tuesday which criticized Hogg and suggested his comments about gun reform could not be trusted because he was the son of a former FBI agent
He followed it up with a link to a YouTube conspiracy video about them.
Harrison said he was ‘appalled’ by his actions and fired him on the spot after finding out about them.
‘I was just made aware that my aide made an insensitive and inappropriate allegation about Parkland students today. I have spoken to him and placed him on leave until we determine an appropriate course of action.
‘I do not share his opinion and he did so without my knowledge.
‘Tonight Mr. Kelly was terminated from his position as my District Secretary. I am appalled at and strongly denounce his comments about the Parkland students.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio tweeted his disgust on Tuesday night as others criticized Hogg
‘I’m not an actor!’: On Tuesday night, David appeared on CNN with his father Kevin where he called the conspiracy theories ‘disturbing’ and ‘disgusting’
On Tuesday night, Hogg and his father appeared on CNN to dismiss their comments and accusations.
‘These people saying this is absolutely disturbing. I am not an actor in any way, shape, or form.
‘I am the son of an FBI agent, that is true, but it is also true that I go to Stoneman Douglas High School and I was a witness to this.
‘I am not an actor. I had to live through this and I will continue to have to do that.’
‘I had to live through that’: David is pictured on February 15, the day after the shooting, back on campus in Parkland to describe how he survived
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