“The Nelk Boys” are one of YouTube’s most popular prank channels, boasting over 3 million subscribers – but their fan meetup took a drastic turn precisely because of their huge fanbase.
Canadian prankster group “The Nelk Boys” decided to host a fan meetup in Dublin, Ireland, alongside popular YouTubers Bradley Martyn and “Stevewilldoit.”
However, their meetup in Dublin’s Phoenix Park didn’t go as expected: Instagram stories from the group show a horde of fans fleeing the area as police arrive on the scene to shut down the gathering.
The group discussed the incident in a series of Instagram story videos, where they admitted that they were surprised by the amount of fans who turned up to the event.
“I don’t know how many people showed up, but the cops fucking closed the gate, they shut the palce down,” they said of the drama. “We chose a public place on purpose so we thought they couldn’t shut it down.”
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Further videos from their Ireland trip show the group being questioned in what could be the “Twenty Two” nightclub where they’d likewise planned a meetup with fans – although it doesn’t seem this particular venture was successful, either.
This wouldn’t be the first time the Nelk Boys have had a recent run-in with law enforcement: in fact, four members of the “Full Send” squad were pulled aside for questioning in Germany in early August, as part of their “spin the globe” challenge for a flight to Russia – although they were later released, details pending.
Kyle, Jesse, 905 and Steve were pulled aside at the security checkpoint while boarding their flight to Russia. Questioning has been going on for over an hour thus far. We are currently in contact with our Visa attorneys hoping to solve this issue immediately. – NELK MGMT
— NELK (@NelkFilmz) August 9, 2019
Of course, the Nelk Boys’ latest meetup isn’t the first YouTube event that has caused mass chaos, by far: makeup mogul James Charles’ meetup in Birmingham, UK saw an entire mall filled to the brim with screaming fans, and even caused a gridlock in the surrounding streets thanks to the fan gathering.
As YouTube stars continue to grow in popularity, the traditional definition of the word “celebrity” continues to change, with more and more internet stars drawing massive crowds due to their online reach.