Bumsndrones

About

Bumsndrones (@bumsndrones) is the name of a social media page that revolves around a drone operator recording people walking on the street in the Colorado area under the belief that they are homeless. Created in November 2023, @bumsndrones began slowly garnering followers into early 2024, with some finding the videos humorous while others found them controversial or insensitive. The page attained significant viral attention after it recorded two separate instances of videoing Denver, Colorado-based TikToker, YouTuber and internet personality Daniel Larson in early January 2024.

History

Starting in late 2023, the X account for @Bumsndrones^[1] started posting videos of drone footage on November 27th, 2023. The first uploaded video, purportedly of a homeless man that the drone operator claims was loitering outside of a convenience store, received only minor attention online as it garnered roughly 21,000 views and 60 likes in one month (shown below).

Online Presence

After starting a TikTok account on December 18th, 2023, @bumsndrones quickly started to gain followers and go viral. Their first TikTok,^[2] a recording of a pair of guys hunting in the woods who threatened to shoot down the drone with a bow and arrow while "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins played in the background, gained over 4.1 million views and 145,000 likes in one month (shown below).

Criticism

The account has received criticism from others on social media due to the nature of the videos in which a drone is usually flown overhead to people who respond negatively to the attention, often throwing rocks and other objects or making obscene gestures.

For example, this pushback was seen in the form of a Reddit post that was created in the /r/drones subreddit that detailed some of his actions and accounts, which @bumsndrones^[3] then reposted to their X account on December 23rd, 2023 (shown below).

Daniel Larson Video

The account received massive virality after uploading overhead drone footage of Daniel Larson, a known lolcow in the local area who is infamous on the internet. On January 3rd, 2024, Bumsndrones uploaded a TikTok^[4] in which they see Larson and proceed to fly up to him. Footage of the event from Larson's POV is edited into the TikTok to show the situation from both sides, with the video gaining over 920,000 views and 132,000 likes in one day (shown below).

Due to Larson's activities online as a lolcow, some users expressed their wonder and amazement at the drone footage capturing Larson and his apparent displeasure with the situation, while others were quick to defend Larson as this confirmed something he has stated earlier in his video rants.

On December 31st, 2023, Larson had recorded the first instance of a drone being used to find him, which was reuploaded to X by user @Parad0x_Pok3r^[5] that same day along with a negative remark added that criticized bumsndrones indirectly for "terrorizing a schizophrenic homeless man" (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References