Overview

Christian Burns' VidCon Security Guard Harassment refers to an incident in which 19-year-old Instagram model Christian Burns was filmed verbally abusing a security guard for blocking his entry into a building at the VidCon conference in late June 2017.

Background

On June 22nd, 2017, YouTuber SuperFilmyGuys uploaded a video titled "VidCon Security Arrested YouTubers," in which Instagram model Christian Burns is shown verbally harassing a security guard at the 2017 VidCon conference (shown below, left). In the video, Burns repeatedly brags about how "famous" he is, how much money he has while calling the guard "ugly" and "blue collar." The following day, YouTuber John Hill uploaded a subtitled version of Burns' confrontation with the security guard, which gathered upwards of 236,000 views and 1,200 comments.

Developments

Online Reaction

On June 25th, h3h3productions uploaded a video titled "Don't Go To VidCon," which featured the Christian Burns video (shown below). Within 24 hours, the video gained over 2.3 million views and 32,200 comments.

Meanwhile, YouTuber rqdex – uploaded footage allegedly showing Burns being assaulted by YouTuber Bryce Hall (shown below). Also on June 25th, a post titled "Instagram model bullies VidCon security guard" was submitted to /r/rage.^[5]

Christian Burns' Response

On June 24th, 2017, Burns' was interviewed by YouTuber "Keemstar": on the show #DramaAlert (shown below). Within 48 hours, the video received more than 678,000 views and 15,400 comments.

Security Guard's Response

Meanwhile, YouTuber Brandon released an interview with two of the security guards who were targeted by Burns, in which they discussed their perspective on the incident and called for viewers to back off from bullying Burns (shown below, left). The following day, Burns appeared with the security guard on #DramaAlert (shown below, right).

News Media Coverage

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the online backlash toward Burns, including The Inquisitr,^[2] The Daily Mail^[1] and NBCNews.^[3]

Search Interest

External References