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‘Doxxed, threatened’: YouTuber Tyler Oliveira cancels documentary release on India's cow dung festival after outrage
Tyler Oliveira's video accumulated more than 5 million views, as netizens said he had showed a ritual, held to mark the end of Diwali, in a negative light.
American YouTuber Tyler Oliveira, who earlier faced massive backlash for posting a video of himself participating in a festival in a Karnataka village where people throw cow dung at each other, has now announced that he will not be releasing his documentary on the “poop-throwing festival”.
His video on the Gorehabba festival in Karnataka’s Gumatapura accumulated more than 5 million views, as users on social media called him a racist and said he had showed a ritual, held to mark the end of Diwali, in a negative light.
At that time, he had responded to the outrage and defended himself, saying that “it isn’t racist to film a poop-throwing festival”. However, he has now said that he was threatened by thousands of Indians and will not be releasing his documentary on the festival.
ALSO READ | Tyler Oliveira responds to criticism over posts on Indian cow dung festival, ‘Already getting mass reported’
What did Tyler Oliveira say?
“After much consideration, I have decided I will NOT be releasing my documentary capturing India’s poop-throwing festival… I have been doxxed and threatened by thousands of Indians over the last 2 weeks,” he wrote in a long post on X.
Accusing many Indians of turning his life into “a living hell”, he said his family was also attacked in ways he could “never imagine”. Oliveira called his decision to show up and participate in the festival the “worst decision of his life”.
“I am only one man… I cannot defeat the combined power of 1.5 billion Indians who yearn for my destruction. I simply cannot continue fighting this war and must choose my battles. This one simply isn’t worth it,” the post read.
The popular YouTuber also claimed that he had never meant to offend Indians, their religion, or their culture and only wanted to “participate in this unusual poop-throwing festival and share it for the world to see.”
Ending his post, he asked people to “leave his family alone”.
Who is Tyler Oliveira?
The X bio of the YouTuber reads, “Man with a camera asking people questions with a small microphone.”
At the time of writing, his YouTube channel had more than 8.36 million subscribers and over 1,88,300 followers on X.
Backlash over video on ‘poop-throwing festival’
The video showed Oliveira wearing a hazmat suit and goggles as he filmed himself among the participants, who were covered in cow dung. Later, he uploaded another video titled “I Survived India’s Poop-Throwing Festival”.
The internet reacted angrily to the video, as users accused the YouTuber of disrespecting traditions and culture and called him a racist.
Criticising the YouTuber, one user wrote, “This is so stupid. Don't be racist.” Another commented, “Stop milking India, man.” Several others shared similar opinions.
