Fantastic Adventures Child Abuse Scandal
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Overview
The Fantastic Adventures Child Abuse Scandal refers to the arrest of Machelle Hackney and her adult sons Ryan and Logan, who stand accused of abusing Michelle's seven adopted children as punishment for failure to perform for her YouTube channel "Fantastic Adventures." According to reports, Hackney had allegedly deprived these children of food, water and bathroom access, sprayed them with pepper spray and grab their genitals when the children did not do what was asked of them. YouTube has since removed the channel, and Hackney has denied the allegations.
Background
On March 15th, 2019, Arizona police arrested Michelle Hackney and her two sons Logan and Ryan, after Hackney's biological daughter contacted authorities to perform a wellness check. The daughter said she had been informed of the abuse by one of the seven children.
According to reports, the children say that Hackney had abused them in order to elicit performances for their YouTube channel, "Fantastic Adventures," which had received more than 700,000 subscribers and 250 million views before YouTube pulled the account (screen shot below).[1] These actions included spraying the children in the face and genitals with pepper spray; locking them in a room without food, water or bathroom access; and physically assaulting them with a hanger, belt brush or her knuckles. One boy claimed she "would pinch the tip of his penis with her nails until it bled."[2] Another child alleged that he "was in the green screen room most of life," and others said that they had not been to school in years.
Developments
Online Reaction
On March 20th, 2019, YouTuber Philip DeFranco discussed the incident on his channel. The post received more than 870,000 views in 24 hours (shown below).
Several people discussed the scandal on various subreddits, including /r/TrueCrimeDiscussion,[3] /r/Adoption,[4] /r/iamatotalpieceofshit,[5] /r/ElsaGate[6] and more.
Media Coverage
Several media outlets covered the story, including NBC,[2] The AV Club,[7] BuzzFeed, [8] The Daily Beast,[9] The Daily Dot [10] and more.
On March 20th, 2019, Inside Edition published a report on the story to YouTube. The post received more than 200,000 views in 24 hours (shown below).
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wayback Machine – Fantastic Adventures
[2] NBC – Child stars of YouTube hit 'Fantastic Adventures' allegedly abused by adopted mother
[3] Reddit – /r/TrueCrimeDiscussion
[4] Reddit – /r/Adoption
[5] Reddit – /r/iamatotalpieceofshit
[6] Reddit – /r/ElsaGate
[7] The AV Club – YouTube's popular Fantastic Adventures channel terminated after reports of child abuse
[8] BuzzFeed – A YouTuber Who Earned Thousands From Videos Of Her Kids Performing Was Charged With Child Abuse
[9] The Daily Beast – Cops: YouTube ‘Momager’ Pepper-Sprayed ‘Fantastic Adventure’ Kid Stars to Force Them to Perform
[10] The Daily Dot – YouTuber accused of abusing her children to make kid-friendly content
Top Comments
Ryumaru Borike
Mar 21, 2019 at 02:36PM EDT
Kenetic Kups
Mar 21, 2019 at 02:39PM EDT