Pretend lifeless physique movies nonetheless up; TikTok consumer says he is banned | Information

ANDERSON – James Craib says he is sorry for videos he posted on TikTok falsely reporting the discovery of a corpse, but he did not delete it.

Craib, 32, said Thursday he was permanently banned from his social media account on TikTok after posting two videos he shot in Anderson.

The first misleading video, released on July 28th, shows Craib walking down a railroad track until he gets to a point where it smells a bit foul near some bushes, he says in the video. He points out in the video that the smell came from a dead person.

A second video, released on July 31, shows Craib outside the Anderson Police Department that day. Craib says in the video that it is an update of the body he found and he claims police told him it was a 28-year-old man.

Madison County’s law enforcement agencies – the sheriff, Anderson Police Department officers, and the coroner – have all confirmed no body was found. The videos, they all said, were fictitious.

In a Facebook message to The Herald Bulletin on Wednesday, Craib wrote that the videos were intended for entertainment purposes.

“I didn’t know it was going to take off like this,” he wrote. “I’ve seen followers soar and views skyrocket and I haven’t done anything to circumvent the fact that it was fake and I should have done it.”

His TikTok account is called Justiceforunknown. He has more than 60,000 followers and a million likes on his profile.

“(I have) no intention of doing any more videos of this nature,” he wrote.

Craib’s Facebook message says he has been banned from his account and the videos have been deleted. But by Monday he had posted 10 more videos and the account was still active.

Craib said he shouldn’t have posted a video claiming he found a body. But he said he didn’t have many TikTok followers at the time and he didn’t think the video would be widespread.

“I couldn’t help but like the attention of them,” he wrote on the Facebook message. “I started getting paid for these videos before they were deleted.”

Approximately 6.7 million people watched the first video of Craib on the train tracks, 752,500 people watched the “official update” which said the body he found was a 28-year-old man and 192,400 people watched a video that Craib posted in a news bulletin The report was fake.

Attempts by The Herald Bulletin to contact TikTok officials to learn how much money TikTok users are making and to confirm Craib has been banned have been unsuccessful.

It took Craib and a friend five minutes to create the first video, and the follow-up video was just as easy, according to Craib.

“I never spoke to the police because there was actually nothing to report, but the viewers really wanted a follow-up and I knew if I made it look real it would go viral,” Craib wrote in the Facebook message .

Craib said he should have posted a disclaimer that the videos were fake to prevent people from believing the corpse could have been a loved one.

“I’ve learned a lot from this (and) will help others understand serious allegations, since comedy isn’t funny (and makes others sad,” wrote Craib.

On Sunday, Craib responded to TikTok comments on the fictional videos, but did not publish any statements that the videos were for entertainment purposes only.

Caleb McKnight, APD’s public information officer, said there was an open departmental investigation into the videos.