An influencer is in hot water after faking the kidnapping of his beloved dog, Albert. French content creator Cyril Schreiner confessed to lying about the kidnapping of his pug.
Taking to TikTok and Instagram on Feb. 10, the influencer confessed that he had "messed up badly."
Let's examine just how bad is badly. A month ago, the influencer rented a house. He used the residence as the staging for a fake kidnapping. Setting up video cameras, he made it look like someone snatched the dog. Later, Schreiner posted a video of himself, emotionally reuniting with his poor pooch. The video made it seem that Albert was rescued.
But the dog was never kidnapped to begin with. The influencer made it all up. He said that he was trying to make an entertaining and "obviously comedic" video. The initial kidnapping video subbed out Albert for a sack of potatoes. But apparently, people thought he was being serious.
"I wanted to create entertainment," he added.
Influencer Fakes Kidnapping
The influencer regrets making the video and apologized for the kidnapping stunt.
"There are things you shouldn't joke about," Schreiner said. "I acted stupidly, and I apologize publicly. Whether you accept my apology or not, I never meant to disrespect people who have actually lost pets. I can't imagine how horrible that must be."
"In recent years, what I was doing on social media pleased me less and less," he shared. "I was enjoying it less. I was making videos almost automatically."
He also insisted that he didn't pull the stunt for publicity.
"I actually lost partnerships, credibility, and a lot of money in this situation," he said. Creating all of this cost me a lot of money and brought in almost nothing. Social media doesn't pay like it used to. I just want to apologize again to anyone I hurt," he concluded his video. "My only goal has always been to share joy and positivity."
