Just Because There Is A Video Of Someone Being Burned Alive Doesn’t Mean You Have To Post It

I’ve done a lot of things in the name of page views, but I’ve always drawn the line at “torture videos.”

And it’s not just the posting of the video, which appears to show an angry mob beating and then setting a man on fire. It’s the accompanying text, from Unicorn Booty (I know, I know):

If it sounds like we’re being vague here (Africa is a big, big place), it’s because the details surrounding this video are hard to come by.

So why are they trying to write about something when they don’t have any of the details?

One thing everyone agrees on however is that the victim in this video is gay.

Who? “Everyone”? Link? They don’t give a link. I guess we”re just supposed to believe them. Believe “everyone.”

Several media outlets are claiming this nightmare went down in Uganda, but again, we’ve seen no evidence locking down a location or even a name for this poor man.

Which media outlets? Links? Oh, no links. They’ve seen “no evidence”? And yet, they keep going:

Real talk, this is the most graphic and shocking example of violence we’ve ever seen in our lives. This video is not for the faint of heart. Hell, it’s not even for most human beings. We honestly argued with one another here in the UB office over who had to cover it, because none of us could even stand to make it all the way through the video.

A gay man is beaten to a bloody pulp by an angry mob in this video, doused with some sort of flammable liquid, buried under a pile of wooden rubble, and then set ablaze. You will cry. You will want to throw up. You won’t make it through the video.

Again, there’s no proof of the man’s sexuality. (And even if there was…who cares? Is Unicorn Booty a torture video site now?) As far as anyone knows, the video could be a scene from a movie. The person being beaten and burned could be a stunt man.

Queerty is also interested in some page views today:

While there’s no information on who took the video or where the incident is taking place, we traced the clip back to a site called WorldStarUncut.com, which labeled it “They Did This To Him Because He Was Gay.”

After much deliberation we decided to post the clip because it is part of an ongoing news story. Obviously whether this poor man was gay or not, or a thief or not, no one deserves such a cruel and torturous death.

Everyone is deliberating and arguing and throwing up and crying about something they know absolutely nothing about but, hey, insane video of guy being burned alive. He’s gay? Sure. Let’s say he’s gay. It will help “the cause” and people need to see it/click thru/comment.

UPDATE–3:00pm PST (from Queerty):

After having a native Nigerian review the footage and listen to the dialogue, LGBT-rights blogger Paul Canning has confirmed the victim in the video is being tortured for an alleged act of thievery not for any perceived homosexuality, as some blogs had initially posted.

Of course, this in no way lessons the horror of the situation.

LOL! Just some Nigerian crook, being tortured for, uhh, sending out one of those scam emails? Haha, oops. Instilling unnecessary panic (a gay man has been burned alive, for being gay!) into millions of people? Just another day in the hysterical gay blogosphere.

Also: this “in no way lessons the horror”? OK. So does this mean Queerty and Unicorn Booty will now routinely post videos of heterosexual African thieves being burned alive? Cool.