Photo: Instagram
She says she's an animal lover.
By Rebecca Jane Stokes — Written on Aug 09, 2019
YouTube is a double-edged sword. Thanks to the platform, it is easier than ever before for people seeking fame to share their talents with the world and start building their brands. Unfortunately, the easy method of sharing videos with the world can sometimes be so easy that people can accidentally post things they had no intention of sharing. Who is Brooke Houts? She's a YouTuber who is learning this for herself first hand ever since a video of her that appears to show the star mistreating her own dog has made its way to the web, leaving Brooke to deal with the consequences.
1. Who Is Brooke Houts?
YouTuber Brooke Houts is feeling the internet's wrath today after a recent video she accidentally uploaded appeared to show her abusing her beloved dog, a Doberman named Sphinx. In the video in question, Sphinx leaps up onto Brooke while she is recording the video (in which he was featured). Brooke does not appear to be in the least bit prepared for this, and the 20-year-old appears to hit the dog and yell "No." When Sphinx makes a second attempt to jump up on Brooke, she gives the appearance in the video of holding him to the ground and spitting on him. At the end of the video, the poor dog tries to her lick her face, and she shoves him away.
2. The Accidental Post
Brooke's not a random unknown. She's a YouTuber who has more than 300,000 followers, and this video has caused her to take a serious hit, and fair enough if what we're seeing is real. Brooke never meant for anyone to see the clip, posting it, removing it, and then uploading it once again minus the offending bits in a video titled 'plastic wrap prank on my doberman!'. but the damage was done and Brooke's reputation was already on the line. Other prominent YouTube stars including the popular and controversial Logan Paul spoke out against the clip. Logan said: "Discipline your animals should they misbehave. i get it. but despite the hitting, the spitting is a totally unwarranted, inappropriate, and vile display of energy that makes this woman completely unfit to own that dog."
3. The Fans Lash Out
But famous celebs weren't the only ones who were outraged by Brooke's actions, her own followers were appalled. One who watched the video said "Give your dog to someone who will love and train it properly. You should be ashamed of yourself for treating an animal like this for any reason." And another wrote: "This dog should be taken from @brookehouts, she’s filming a YouTube video about playing with her dog and she accidently (sic) uploaded the entirety of the footage where we get to see her beating the poor dog. She wanted to be famous so Twitter make that happen."
4. Brooke Makes A Statement
Brooke herself has issued a statement: "Anything I say isn’t going to make those who believe I’m a bad person stop believing that, and I’m aware of this,’ the YouTuber wrote. "I apologize to anyone who has been effected (sic) negatively by the footage. First off, I want to address the uncut footage. On the day in particular that the video was filmed, and actually this past week, things in my outside life have been less than exceptional. I am not going to play the “victim card” or anything of that sort, but I do want to point out that I am rarely as upset as what was shown in the footage. The bubbly, happy-go-lucky Brooke that you often see in my videos is typically an accurate representation of me, but it’s obvious that I’m playing up my mood in this video when I’m clearly actually frustrated."
5. Brooke Promotes Training
In addition to making the apology statement, Brooke also took the time to clarify a couple of things with her fanbase: "That being said, this does NOT justify me yelling at my dog in the way that I did, and I’m fully aware of that. Should I have gotten as angry as I did in the video? No. Should I have raised my voice and yelled at him? No. However, when my 75 lb. Doberman is jumping up in my face with his mouth open, I do, as a dog parent, have to show him that this behavior is unacceptable. But I want to make it known, REGARDLESS of what my dog does, I should not have acted that way towards him."
6. She Wants To Make Something Clear
But there was something about what happened with Sphinx that Brooke wanted to make crystal clear. She claims that no matter what the video looked like, she at no point spat at the dog: "I want to clarify that I am NOT a dog abuser or animal abuser in any way, shape, or form. Anyone who has witnessed or heard true animal abuse will be able to clearly see that. I also did NOT spit on my dog, but I understand how it could look like I did. Did I get in his face and take unnecessary actions towards him? Yes I did, and that was not the way I should’ve handled the situation. Did I spit on my dog? No."
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. She's an experienced generalist with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, pop culture, and true crime.