A TikToker who provoked international outrage after storming into a random private home for a ‘prank’ has blamed the controversy on Anti-Black racism, and has also mocked UK laws as being “weak” after he was let off with a small fine.
Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, who operates under the internet handle Mizzy, has blamed outrage caused by his prank videos on anti-Black racism while speaking to various UK media outlets.
O’Garro was fined £365 (~$450) over his actions by a UK court on Wednesday, a punitive measure that has been described as “tiny”, with some expressing concern that the punishment will not serve as a deterrent to the 18-year-old. As reported by the Evening Standard, O’Grarro was also handed a Criminal Behaviour Order with conditions banning him from trespassing or uploading videos without the consent of those featured for two years.
Meanwhile, the TikToker has repeatedly linked the public outrage over his videos — which involve him running into strangers’ houses, stealing people’s dogs and asking random passers-by if they want to die — is ultimately caused by anti-black racism.
“I’m a Black male doing these things and that’s why there’s such an uproar on the internet,” he told The Independent.
The prankster later repeated the claim during a heated interview with TV personality Piers Morgan, who hurled insults at each other for just over 11 minutes during a segment on TalkTV.
When pushed on his family background, O’Garro accused Morgan of only caring about the situation he grew up in because he was Black, rejecting the interviewer’s response that he does not “give a damn” about the TikToker’s skin colour.
Perhaps the only point the pair agreed on was the effectiveness of the UK legal system, with O’Garro openly describing the UK law he was fined under as being weak.
“UK laws are weak, simple as,” he said. “And that’s not my fault. That’s not my fault.”
O’Garro’s extremely confrontational stance, both with Piers Morgan and in his other appearances online since the court case concluded, contrasts very harshly with the contrite, regretful person presented to the judge. As reported, O’Garro’s lawyer told the court the youth had apologised to his victims, and that “He never intended to cause any distress or upset by his actions… He has now had the opportunity to reflect and realises that what he did was very stupid and very wrong and acknowledges it must have been extremely upsetting for the family whose house he entered.”
Speaking in the interview with O’Garro, Morgan expressed concern that he had shown no “real remorse”.
British politicians have now begun trying to use O’Garro’s case as an excuse to push through the government’s Online Safety Bill, a piece of legislation that will effectively destroy encrypted messaging within the country, while also implementing a stringent progressive-leaning censorship regime on social media outlets.
“This content is distributing and upsetting,” Leftist Labour politician Alex Davies-Jones MP remarked. “Yet another example of how we desperately need the Online Safety Bill to hold the social media platforms to account.”
O’Garro himself does not appear to be letting his harsh time in the limelight go to waste, publicly plugging his new streaming account on Amazon-owned website Twitch while conducting his interview with Piers Morgan.
“I’m gonna start streaming on Twitch,” he said. “IRL streams. Gaming streams. My Twitch is MizzyIsLive if you wanna get at that.”
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