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After the guys from Derick Watts and the Sunday Blues took offense that Women24 did not publish their press release (we only watched the video) we decided give them what they want.
Here is the full release that was published after their silly #StoptheKnot video went viral.
#STOPTHEKNOT CREATORS REVEAL CONTROVERSIAL VIRAL VIDEO AS ELABORATE HOAX
Cape Town comedy duo, Derick Watts & The Sunday Blues , have revealed that their “ Stop The Knot ”
video - which took the internet by storm last week - is in fact an elaborate hoax.
Nic Smal & Gareth Allison, teaming up with director of photography & producer Darren Wertheim , planted
longtime friends in locations around the city and staged a hit-and-run scenario in which they cut off
top-knots from three “unsuspecting” victims. Some of the hairstyles were real while others were created
with hair extensions by hair & makeup artist Kaley Meyer to further the illusion.
Outrage spread like wildfire, neatly compiled under the #stoptheknot hashtag that Derick Watts & The
Sunday Blues conveniently provided at the end of their video to help track their experiment. While some
picked up on clues in the video that it was, in fact, a prank, others didn't, and had a go (and then some)
on social media and blogs.
The obvious question: why?
Having approached the project as a performance piece and social experiment, the comedy duo observed
the mixed reactions with keen interest. From individual disdain and brazen support, to brands attempting
to leverage the video’s popularity to self-promote, “influencers” and pseudo-influencers used the video
to inject the story with personal agendas.
The duo, aware of how pranking can go wrong, were careful to at no point encourage #stoptheknot
mimicry. The very fact that this needed to be carefully considered, however, points to the concerning
habit of humans to mindlessly copy.
“We wanted to do this at this point in time for several reasons” explains Nic Smal . “Our country has just
had an extremely chaotic event with the State Of The Nation debacle, load shedding and the imminent
critical blackout warning from Eskom, whilst ISIS also released a new video showing them decapitating
innocent civilians.”
“With the haircut being such controversial topic on the internet these days, we knew we would get many
mixed responses - from men and women alike."
With over 4.5 million views accruing in less than 5 days , numbers on the video ballooned as people
weighed in with opinions, judgement and even abuse towards the two. The story was picked up by local
media (including 24 hour news channel eNCA) as well as international outlets such as Buzzfeed, British
tabloids The Mirror, Metro and The Independent, Australian and New Zealand radio stations and CBS KCAL
television news in Los Angeles.
Remarkably, none of them stopped to consider that the video could be a hoax.
“The intended irony of the piece is that we'd be squarely classified hipsters ourselves for our appearance”
continues Gareth Allison . “People missed that, it should have been a straightforward clue as to the
video’s validity. It was intriguing to experience the hate, outrage, threats and the calls for us to be
brought to justice - and even jailed - for a hair-cutting video people thought was genuine. All this at a
time when our country is going through one of the most turbulent times in its history.”
“ Stop The Knot ” reached #1 video on YouTube in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Ireland, as
well as #1 prank video in the United States. It also charted highly in South Africa and the United Arab
Emirates on YouTube’s official lists.
But here is the question: is the fact that the pair neither explicitly encouraged nor intended to create
Stop-The-Knot-parroting enough to justify the prank on moral grounds? After all, as many have argued -
whether or not the video is real is perhaps irrelevant - either way, it sets a bad example, propagates
intolerance towards “otherness,” and incites hate at a time when the world needs it least.
The trouble is, of course, by this argument, we ought to ban violent movies, outlaw most of the gaming
industry, reject certain types of music, avoid many forms of comedy (certainly most lol videos that
currently circulate the net) - and perhaps even censor the news. But this sounds remarkably like the sort
of anti-liberal, intolerant and dogmatic worldview that opponents to Stop The Knot are wanting to
denounce.
And so, let us end with this in mind: “A comedian's job isn't just to make people laugh, it's to make them
think. If there's a meaning to it, and a substance and a bit of a depth, then you're doing something. I
always expect some people to be offended. I know I ruffle feathers but some people’s feathers need a
little ruffling. And remember: just because someone is offended doesn’t mean they’re in the right. Some
people are offended by multiculturalism, homosexuality, abortion, atheism – what should we do? Ban all
those things? You have the right to be offended, and I have the right to offend you. But no one has the
right to never be offended.” - Ricky Gervais
