Spanish YouTuber in Japan labelled a harasser by La Vanguardia over a prank

Prank with a drunk woman: Spanish YouTuber accused of harassment

The video lasts less than a minute. A Spanish YouTuber walks at night down a street in Japan, comes across a drunk woman and makes a quip with his camera rolling. That's all. The clip has put the content creator at the centre of a controversy: La Vanguardia calls him a sensual harasser.

What the footage shows and what it doesn't

Analyses of the video insist on one detail: it is not the YouTuber who grabs the woman, but someone else in his group. The crudest remarks come from viewers of the livestream, not from his mouth. The context dismantles the harshest version of the accusation.

That doesn't make the scene an example of good taste. Joking with a drunk person on the street, on camera, borders on poor taste. But a newspaper turning it into a crime is another matter.

The Japanese Penal Code and the media noise

If the case ever reaches the courts, the Japanese Penal Code will decide. There is no formal complaint, no physical contact and the footage was shot in a public space. Others point out that certain verbal conduct towards a drunk person is already prosecuted in Japan.

Some see a smear campaign against a Spaniard abroad; others argue the provocateur got exactly what he was looking for. The controversy is fuelled by knee-jerk reactions on both sides.

The most striking detail: the YouTuber, whom some identify as Alberto, makes his living from Twitch and his audience has grown with the controversy. A newspaper putting a prank with a drunk woman in Tokyo on its front page gives him exactly what he needs: attention. Publishing it has been free publicity.