About

Slapping Predators and Beating Up Pedos, also known as Attacking Child Predators In Public, refers to a trend in predator-hunting videos in which the hunter physically harms or assaults the alleged child predator who they've baited to a public location with the promise of meeting a child. The trend was popularized in mid-2024 and was seemingly started by the group Dads Against Predators, who began posting content in 2020. Since then, one of the group's founders, Jay Carnicom, has continued posting videos in which he assaults alleged predators, often slapping them or hitting them in the face while being recorded. In 2024, Vitaly's 'Catching Predators' Kick streams also helped popularize the trend, with Vitaly often humiliating the predators in various ways during the livestreams. The trend caused some viral debates online over whether or not the assault of the alleged predators is justified, with some likening it to vigilante justice, particularly when the predator hunters seemingly don't involve the police in any way.

Origin

Dads Against Predators (DAP) & Jay Carnicom

The earliest known predator-hunting group to feature videos of its members openly assaulting the baited and alleged child predators is Dads Against Predators (DAP), a group often labeled as "vigilantes" that film themselves baiting and confronting child predators by pretending to be children online and then tricking the alleged predators into meeting them somewhere. They are also known to expose predators on their Facebook^[1] page, "The D.A.P. Community."^[2]

The extent of the group assaulting or otherwise physically assailing alleged predators is unclear, however, the group proved controversial throughout the early 2020s. For example, on October 2020, WTOL11^[3] news published a story about the sheriff asking the group to step down, with police saying they can't technically charge any of the alleged predators because they're not actually talking with or trying to lure real children (shown below, left).

In 2023, warrants were issued for the arrest of several men involved with the group (Jay Cameron Carnicom, Joshua Mundy and Jason Chipps) after a shooting broke out in a Target on Hanes Mall Blvd in June 2022 in relation to a sting, where the sting purportedly turned to a physical altercation (news report shown below, right).^[4]

As early as December 2022, Jay Carnicom, one of the members of DAP, started posting predator-sting videos to Rumble, although the channel no longer exists.^[5] It is unclear to what extent these videos featured the assault of the alleged predators.

Carnicom's 2023 and 2024 videos frequently feature the alleged predators being assaulted physically, becoming a staple of his content. The earliest known video of Carnicom's to feature a physical altercation with a predator was posted to his Locals^[6] page on March 11th, 2023 (login required to view content). In the video, the alleged predator attempts to flee in his car and Carnicom tries to stop him. The subject can be heard telling Carnicom to "stop assaulting" him. Carnicom has regularly posted videos to the account ever since.

Spread

On January 31st, 2023, YouTuber^[7] Obieone posted a reupload from an unknown, deleted YouTube channel in which a predator hunter confronts a person in a store for allegedly trying to meet with a 14-year-old decoy. In the video, a man approaches the alleged predator from behind and punches him in the head, resulting in a fight. The video gained over 237,000 views in a year (embed unavailable).

On September 14th, 2023, Jay Carnicom began posting highlights from his videos to his X^[8] page, @jaycarnicomdap. In the first video, posted that day, the alleged predator gets knocked out cold and falls to the ground in a parking lot, garnering over 3,000 likes in 10 months (shown below).

Predaphile goes down "you got knocked the fuck out" pic.twitter.com/d1RjXzba1B

— JayCarnicomDAP (@jaycarnicomdap) September 14, 2023

Predator assault videos became increasingly popularized throughout mid-2024. On June 21st, 2024, X^[9] user @LangmanVince posted a video of a man slapping and assaulting an alleged predator in a store, then chasing him through the building, garnering over 55,000 likes in a month (shown below). The video was reposted by the X^[10] account @DramaAlert the next day, garnering over 150,000 likes in the same span of time.

This is how you treat pic.twitter.com/CBj9GDGiUP

— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) June 22, 2024

While the ethics behind independent predator hunters assaulting alleged predators has inspired discussions online, especially over whether or not the police should be involved in the takedowns, the trend has been largely celebrated on sites like X and TikTok. For example, on July 8th, 2024, TikToker^[11] @demetriusfields posted a video celebrating the content and sharing the belief that there should be a TV show on which predators get beaten up, garnering over 430,000 views in four days (shown below).

On July 9th, X^[12] user @billyinpurple shared a video of an alleged predator being assaulted, writing, "this trend where people are catching predator’s and putting hands on them is the BEST thing about twitter right now," garnering over 49,000 likes in three days.

On July 10th, 2024, X^[13] user @DennyMazku shared a meme about predator hunters resorting to violence in 2024, garnering over 151,000 likes in two days (shown below).

“i swear im not here to meet a 15 yo girl”Predator catchers in 2024: pic.twitter.com/7g7EGssVX5

— DennyMaz (@DennyMazku) July 10, 2024

Various Examples

Related Memes

Vitaly's 'Catching Predators' Streams

Vitaly "Catching Predators With" Kick Streams is a series of 10 planned livestreams hosted on the Kick streaming platform during which content creator Vitaly teams up with an influencer or celebrity each episode, including Lil Pump and Ty Dolla Sign, to bait, expose and humiliate child predators. The first stream took place on May 3rd, 2024, with several clips going viral online. Following the stream with Ty Dolla $ign on May 5th, a clip of a man punching one of the alleged predators in the face and knocking him out went viral, inspiring some rumors that the man died, although these were purportedly false.

Search Interest

External References