Photo: Twitter
This probably isn't how they thought this call would go.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Mar 15, 2022
A viral video on Twitter has people questioning whether these show callers were paid actors or whether they were telling a real story — however unfortunate — about the end of their relationship.
The video sees a man who called into an Atlanta radio show for some friendly advice get accused of murder by his ex.
Yung Joc & The Streetz Morning Takeover Radio Show in Atlanta, Georgia hosted the segment but they didn’t expect that things would fly south.
A woman accused the caller of murdering her brother live on the radio show.
The clip that went viral on Twitter was posted by the user @_mimitaughther and has over 2 million views with almost 12 thousand retweets.
The camera is filming Yung Joc, the radio show host, as he listens in on the phone call between Don and the girl that had ghosted him.
Don had originally called in to get some advice from the radio show hosts, but they decided that it would be better if they simply called the woman to find out from her.
“Did he cheat?” asked another host, to which she replied that no, he didn’t cheat.
“When we were at the kickback,” she started, “and you and your homeboy were in the kitchen talking about big boy gangster talk, do you recall what you were talking about?”
At this point, Yung Joc can be seen shushing the people who were talking in the background to get a better ear on what was going on.
She seemed to know the exact month and year that this all occurred, and she pressed the man to see if he really remembered or not, to which he replied, “Yeah. No, I mean, enlighten me.”
The radio hosts agreed, they asked her “What were they talking about?” and let her continue on with the story.
“So, July 2020, they [were] talking about that they robbed a guy and they shot and killed him,” she said. “You don’t remember that Don? Y’all [were] at the gas station.”
Don denies remembering anything, and that’s when she says “Well, that was my brother.”
This is where everything falls apart. There’s an awkward silence for about five seconds, and then Don finally hangs up the phone, likely realizing that there’s no salvaging that relationship, and also realizing that he was just accused of murder live on a radio show.
The radio hosts question her, asking her if she’s sure about the serious accusations that she’s making, and she only doubles down on her position.
Now the credibility behind this story is questionable, but it all sounded serious and, if it is fake, it’s a testament to everyone’s acting skills involved.
According to Gizmodo, radio shows often hire voice actors for these segments.
In fact, there are companies that advertise these paid voice actors in a large conspiracy to fool audience listeners.
They specifically talk about Premiere on Call, a company that describes their service as “our new custom caller service. We supply voice talent to take/make your on-air calls, improvise your scenes, or deliver your scripts.”
Unfortunately, this shatters the fantasy that some of those improvised radio segments might have actually been fake, and that’s not to say that shit one was, but it’s not something that’s super uncommon.
But people in the replies on Twitter have argued that it might not be fake because they don’t think anyone would lie about something so serious.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.