YouTuber ReSet (real name Kanghua Ren) has been handed a 15-month prison sentence, had his YouTube channels shut down for five years, and has received a 20,000 euro fine after he filmed himself offering a homeless man a toothpaste-filled Oreo.
Ren, who was born in China but has spent most of his life in Spain, faced a Barcelona court last week. The court found him guilty of violating the moral integrity of a homeless man, according to The New York Times.
While the influencer was given a prison sentence it is unlikely he will actually serve that time, given Spanish law usually allows sentences under two years for first-time offenders in non-violent crimes to be suspended.
In the since-deleted video from 2017, then 19-yr-old Ren could be seen replacing the cream inside an oreo with toothpaste before giving it to a homeless man outside a supermarket along with a €20 bill. The man, in his 50s, vomited after eating the cookie. Ren reportedly admitted in the clip that he “may have gone a bit far” but that there was a positive side. “This will help clean this teeth – I don’t think he has cleaned them since he became poor.”
Ren told the court the video was a bad joke: “I do things to mount a show. People like what is morbid.”
The YouTuber’s initial video was widely condemned and led to him replacing it with another clip where he visited the homeless man again and offered him another €20 bill.
Judge Rosa Aragonés said in her ruling that Ren had displayed “cruel behaviours” towards “easy or vulnerable victims.”
