NASA Engineer Admits Parts Of Epic Glitter Fart Bomb Prank Were Fake
Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer who now spends his time making YouTube videos, recently emerged as an online hero of sorts for his masterful revenge plot against would-be porch thieves. In case you missed it, he concocted a glitter bomb disguised as an ordinary package so that unscrupulous pilferers would perhaps learn a lesson—don't steal people's stuff. Hilarity ensues, but unfortunately not all of the reactions were genuine.
"I removed 1.5 minutes of footage from the video since originally uploading. I was presented with information that caused me to doubt the veracity of 2 of the 5 reactions in the video," Rober explained on Twitter.
Rober insists he did not knowingly stage any of the reactions himself, and that the video showing a thief stealing a package from his own porch is genuine. It's the video clips of a couple of other reactions by those he enlisted to help him with this video that are fake.
To flesh out his video, Rober "put a feeler out for people willing to put a package on their porch" and offered to compensate them.
"It appears (and I've since confirmed) in these two cases, the 'thieves' were actually acquaintances of of the person helping me. From the footage I received from the phones which intentionally only record at specific times, this wasn't obvious to me," Rober explains.
In other words, Rober was duped by a couple of the people he paid to participate in the prank, and by extension, so was everyone who watched the video.
"I'm really sorry about this. Ultimately, I am responsible for the content that goes on my channel and I should have done more here," Rober added. "I'm especially gutted because so much thought, time, money, and effort went into building the device and I hope this doesn't just taint the entire effort as 'fake'. It genuinely works."
It's unfortunate that parts of the video turned out to be fake. However, many people are willing to give Rober a pass because of his transparency and apology.
"I appreciate your honesty and integrity, Mark. This doesn't take away anything from your video. It is still an awesome invention and fun video to watch. Your admission and edit keeps your credibility 100 percent intact. Keep up the great work!," a Twitter user responded.
Most of the replies are of that same nature, and deservedly so. Sure, Rober could have done a bit more due diligence. However, these things happen, and him taking responsibility says a lot about his character. We're also in agreement with the above comment, that his glitter bomb is still an impressive piece of engineering.
Keep up the good work, Rober!
