A Tennessee man has sparked outrage after a viral video showed him confronting and threatening two teenagers who were allegedlyfishingin his private lake. The incident, which took place in the affluent Admirals Landing neighborhood, quickly garnered millions of views and sparked fierce criticism across various social media platforms after being uploaded on July 6th, 2024.
One of the teenagers recording the interaction responded, “Don’t threaten me! Back off from me.”
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The viral clip, which has more than 1 million views, shows an angry man breaking a teenager’s fishing rod in half
Image credits:fishn_shi
The man paced back and forth, visibly angry over being recorded, until he got in front of the camera and threatened to throw the phone into the lake.
“Yeah? Then I’ll press charges,” the teenager retorted.
“We’re just gonna wait for the cops. We’re not going to mess with anything.”
At this point, the situation escalated as the man quickly lost his temper and started to shout.
“You’re fishing in a private lake!” he yelled. “I’m gonna prosecute, and you’re going to pay all kinds of money because you’re being a d–k.”
“He’s our president! He’s on the board!” a woman could be heard saying in the background.
The heated discussion got worse when one of the kids attempted to resumefishing. This led to theviral momentwhen, enraged and frustrated, the man snatched the rod—claimed to cost $200—from the teenager’s hands and broke it in half.
After the clip went viral, internet “investigators” quickly discovered the man’s identity
The clip, in which the kids also claim the man was drunk and called him a “Karen” (an internet slang usually reserved for middle-aged women being rude), quickly spread across the internet. It was posted on platforms like X, Reddit, and YouTube, drawing widespread condemnation.
Many criticized the man’sexcessive reactionand aggressive behavior toward the minors.A group of dedicated internet sleuths even took it upon themselves to uncover the man’s identity, and what they found out only added to the outrage.
This revelation added another layer of criticism, with people questioning Webster’s actions in light of his charitable work.
“Matt Webster. Works for a Catholic organization that ensures underserved children have provisions and care. He’s a genuine peach, huh?”said one useron Tiktok.
A commenter on YouTube alsoadded,“He is committee chairman of the Haiti Outreach Program. Just think about how he treats those poor little black kids.”
Users have also debated the legal aspects of the conflict, questioning the “private” aspect of the pond
It’s important to note that, according toTennessee laws, fishing in private waters requires you to be a landowner or part of the immediate family of one. Third parties, such as tenants, can only fish with the permission of the landowner.
Regardless, some disputed the private aspect of the waters where the kids were fishing, as one user noted, “So that’s not a private lake. the state owns the water…so as long as you’re in the water and possibly the bank he can’t say anything.”
Another netizen claimed to have pinpointed the location of the houses present in the video, writing, “Looks like there is only one lake in Admirals Landing. And based on the houses, they were behind this house 9824 St Germaine Dr Knoxville.”
The lake in question isFort Loudoun Lake, whose waters are indeed public, but theparticular pondthe teenagers were fishing in appears to be part of the Admiral’s Landing community’sprivate area.
The incident caught the attention of fellow internet personality TizzyEnt, who bought the kids a brand-new fishing rod
Imagine getting this pissed off over kids fishingpic.twitter.com/BUtV66sd3F
— TizzyEnt (@TizzyEnt)July 5, 2024
While the video didn’t show the full resolution of the conflict or the arrival of the police, popular music video director Michael McWhorter (TizzyEnt)uploaded a clipexplaining that he talked to the teenagers involved.
From wanting the man to be arrested to urging him to repay the kids for the broken rod, users online shared their sentiments
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