Creator of Faked Video of Sanders Campaign Playing Homophobic DMX Song: It Was ‘A Social Experiment’

Perpetrator Is a Bernie Sanders Supporter

Edwin Acuna was just trolling Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders supporters, or so he says. The man who has confessed to creating a video shows Bernie Sanders walking on stage with a homophobic, transphobic rap song by DMX that calls for LGBT people to be shot to death says it was just “a social experiment.”

The video was reported on without question by Billboard, International Business Times, Politico, The Root, The Source, BET, and others as real. NCRM did not report on the video until we first contacted the Sanders campaign who quickly responded it was not and added that “DMX is not currently nor anticipated to join our pre-rally playlist.” That was the story we reported.

But according to Joe.My.God., Acuna has confessed to LGBT blogger and author Matt Rettenmund of Boy Culture, and to Slate. Before Acuna’s confession, Rettenmund was on to the perpetrator, having wading through his tweets to confirm he’s a Sanders supporter. 

Acuna tells Rettenmund, “this was a social experiment, and everyone seem to fall for it.”

Well, not everyone. NCRM did not.

Confessing that the “video was faked,” Acuna says, “i knew everyone would go nuts.” 

“Im a Bernie supporter but one of the main things that I set to prove is the medias ability to rewrite headlines and make everything seem twisted.” Which is essentially what he did, only worse. Most of the media doesn’t intentionally splice audio on top of video to create 100 percent false stories that people think are real.

“The video was a joke at first.” Acuna says, “as i thought about it, i knew everyone would go nuts,” confessing that the “video was faked.” i just want to give a major shout out to boy culture for keeping a level head about the situation.

“if you’re going to support a candidate dont do it cause of a viral video, and if it sparks you’re interest, let the flame burn a lot longer than just voting and walking away, we as american citizens have more power than we think, and to all those people thinking they got a 1up on Bernie….I say this…”

“This” is followed by a meme that reads: “congratulations … you played yourself.”

In a similar statement to Slate, Acuna said, “The younger folks out there, I really do appreciate the immense love everyone gave Bernie Sanders, but please think more about the political process and get involved instead of having to have a viral video to motivate you to make a move and vote. To those Hilary supporters, I hope you feel at a lose for words and I say that with all due respect, I respect your stance but Id like to ask you how it feels to believe you almost had a 1up on Bernie and a reason to shame him only to come up short?”

(Note: all spelling errors above are original.)

Stunningly, no one seems to be outraged at the lie Acuna created and the fraud he perpetrated, so allow me.

Acuna’s actions were not a “social experiment,” and his motivations were not well-intentioned. He committed a dangerous act, he intentionally interfered with a presidential campaign, he upset and outraged people across the spectrum, and no one should let him off the hook for it. Is it “free speech”? I can’t say it’s not. Was it stupid, hurtful, selfish, and potentially harmful? In my opinion, very.

If you doubt that his intentions were anything other than selfish and dishonorable, as of this writing the faked video is still pinned to the top of his Twitter page:

That should speak volumes that this was not a “social experiment.”