American YouTuber Nathan Bartling, popularly known as ‘My Mate Nate’, is facing heavy criticism from Thais on the heels of hiring 50 Thai police officers to participate in a hide-and-seek game as part of a YouTube video. The game took place in an abandoned shopping mall, where Bartling and his team had 10 minutes to hide while the officers had an hour to find them. The controversy arose as commenters questioned if the police officers joined the game during their duty hours and expressed concerns about their availability for emergencies. Some condemned Bartling and the police for their perceived recklessness while others argued that the game provided valuable training for the officers. The release of the next episode of the series remains uncertain due to the backlash received. The Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police warned both Bartling and the police officers involved that they would face legal consequences if they failed to obtain permission to produce the video.

Our Take

Hahaha… I laughed for a few reasons at this story.

One, I personally don’t think it’s a huge deal that Nathan hired cops (who I can only imagine were off duty) to star in his YouTube video.

Two, I thought it was hilarious that there were some people who said the the shoot was “good training” for the cops. Absolutely classic.

All in all, I got a chuckle from this one on all fronts and hope that there’s no real issues for Nathan or the cops that participated.