A group of YouTubers are facing major backlash after visiting an ‘uncontacted tribe’ – and introducing them to vaping.
The NELK Boys, made up of Kyle Forgeard, Aaron Steinberg and Salim Sirur, travelled to a Pacific island near Fiji to make contact with a tribe, accompanied by adventurer and fellow YouTuber Forrest Galante.
The nearly 40-minute long video, uploaded on Christmas Eve, has racked up about 4.8million views so far.
But their decision to interact with the isolated group and share vapes and bourbon with them has sparked a mixed reaction.
During the video, the NELK Boys come across the tribe, and Forrest warned they might see their group as a ‘war party’.
They were immediately surrounded by tribe members using bows and arrows, but eventually were given permission to enter the community by the tribe’s chief.
They spent some time learning about the tribe’s way of life, going hunting with them and trying some of their food.
In return the NELK Boys handed over a bottle of bourbon for the chief to try, with other members of the tribe also drinking from the bottle.
They also gave them packs of cigarettes before commenting ‘watch if they find out about vapes’.
At this point, they offered a cherry apple flavoured vape pen to tribe members, who took a puff, with one of the YouTubers commenting: ‘He’s about to get hooked on them.’
They then showed the locals how to blow clouds from the vapes, as well as encouraging them to try snus – a tobacco product which provides nicotine without smoking.
The NELK Boys have faced backlash since the video was uploaded and clips were shared on X.
Viewers accused the group of ‘polluting’ the tribe’s authenticity, disrupting their way of life, and some described the scene as ‘sickening’ and ‘trashy’.
While some said the adult tribe members should have the freedom to try alcohol and nicotine products if they wished, others raised concerns about possible addiction and questioned if the health risks were fully explained.
Metro has contacted the NELK Boys for comment
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