A popular social media personality has sparked debate over a recent prank he pulled on an airplane. 

Last Wednesday, Jamie Zhu, a Sydney native, posted a 3-minute video of himself attempting to switch from an economy-class seat to a business-class seat on a Cathay Pacific flight. 

“I’ve just got to the airport, and I’ve got a very long international flight ahead of me,” he says at the beginning of the clip. “I’ve thought of an idea where I might be able to get a business-class flight for free. I really hope this works.”

Zhu then walks into an Amcal Express, a pharmacy, at an unidentified airport and asks for a moon boot. 

“I broke my ankle recently,” he explains to a sales associate. 

Upon receiving one, Zhu puts it on his right foot and plays around with it before he boards his flight. He then tries to fit the boot between his seat and the one in front of his, before asking a flight attendant to be moved to a different seat. The attendant says she needs to get clearance from her supervisor.

“My boot won’t fit in here,” he tells the supervisor. “I’ve got a broken ankle.”

The video then cuts to Zhu sitting in business class, clearly ecstatic that he’s managed to pull his prank off. He takes his boot off and shows off all the amenities that he receives in his section. 

“No, but seriously, guys, I had an amazing eight-hour sleep. I just woke up. How was your sleep? Was it good?” he asks the cameraman, who plays along. 

Zhu ends the clip by walking off without the boot, as a worker wishes him a speedy recovery. 

“Thank you,” the worker says. “I hope your ankle gets better.” 

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Zhu jokes.

The video, which has received over 75,000 views as of Tuesday, drew criticism from fellow YouTube users. 

“Hope you’re arrested and charged with fraud,” one person wrote. “It’s people like you that make the lives of honest people more difficult. Scumbag.”

“Jamie, what have you done?” another asked. “This is a big NO NO. I feel sorry for people that have real health issues, because for sure, airlines will be stricter, and they won’t give the kind of treatment they gave you because of what you did.”

In an interview with Insider, Zhu defended himself, claiming many of his followers called it a “cheeky, clever, and lighthearted prank to play.” 

“At the end of the day, my intentions for my videos are to make fun, lighthearted and entertaining content, and the video really showcased Cathay Pacific’s high standard of customer service on their flights,” he said. 

Zhu, a known prankster, previously made headlines in 2015, when he pretended to watch an adult film during a lecture at the University of New South Wales. 

“I love making funny videos and entertaining people,” he told the Daily Mail. “I especially love creating awkward situations and watching people’s reaction to them.” 

The second of three Illini football players charged in an armed robbery prank will be on probation for one year. And the third is expected to get the same sentence next month.

Judge Tom Difanis this week sentenced 19 year-old Howard “HoJo” Watkins to 12 months of conditional discharge after Watkins admitted to a misdemeanor theft charge.

Attorney Tony Bruno, who represents the third defendant Darta Lee, said his client is expected to enter an identical plea on May 4 and also get one year of conditional discharge.

Earlier, another player, Zarrian Holcombe, admitted to a felony theft charge. But he can avoid a felony conviction if he completes the terms of his probation.

Prosecutors said the crime occurred on May 10 at Bromley Hall on campus.  They said Watkins, Lee and Holcombe wore masks, and one was armed with a BB gun. The men entered the room of someone they knew and demanded money.

Coach Lovie Smith kicked the players off the team soon after the allegations came to light.

A Los Angeles man suspected of making a hoax emergency call that led to the fatal police shooting of a Kansas man told a judge Wednesday he would not fight efforts to send him to Wichita to face charges.

Tyler Barriss, 25, was held without bail after waiving his right to an extradition hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Barriss stood behind a glass wall dressed in black with his hands cuffed at his waist and provided brief answers to a judge’s questions, acknowledging he was the wanted man and had voluntarily signed the waiver.

Police have said Andrew Finch, 28, was shot after a prankster called 911 last week with a fake story about a shooting and kidnapping at Finch’s Wichita home.

Barriss has been charged in Kansas with making a false alarm, according to court papers. The charge for calling police or a fire department and knowingly giving false information is a low-level felony in Kansas that carries a maximum of 34 months in prison.

Other charges could be filed after Wichita prosecutors review the results of a police investigation.

A more serious potential state charge would be second-degree murder for unintentionally causing a death by reckless actions, said Elizabeth Cateforis, a law professor at the University of Kansas. That can carry a sentence of up to about 20 years.

Another option may be an involuntary manslaughter charge in which a death is caused by a person acting recklessly or in the commission of another felony. That carries a maximum sentence of a little over 10 years.

Barriss has a history of making bogus calls to authorities. He was released from the Los Angeles County jail last year after serving less than half of a two-year and eight month sentence for phoning in two fake bomb threats in 2015 that cleared out the KABC-TV studio in nearby Glendale.

Glendale police who investigated the bomb scare found about 20 other incidents where Barriss had phoned in threats to universities and media outlets around the country, Sgt. Dan Suttles said Wednesday. The FBI assisted those investigations, but deferred to state prosecutors, spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

In the Wichita case, police have characterized the phony call as a case of “swatting” in which callers try to get a SWAT team to respond to a bogus report.

The caller who phoned Wichita police said in a relatively calm voice that he had shot his father in the head and was holding his mother and a sibling at gunpoint, according to the 911 recording. He said he poured gasoline inside the home and “might just set it on fire.”

When Finch came to the door, police said he moved a hand toward his waistband and an officer, fearing he was reaching for a gun, fired a single shot and killed him. Finch was unarmed.

The hoax call reportedly was made after a dispute over a small wager online in a “Call of Duty” online video game tournament, according to Dexerto, a news service focused on gaming.

Finch’s mother has said her son wasn’t a video game player.

Kansas authorities have to pick up Barriss by Feb. 2, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Deborah Brazil said.

Tags:

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