GameStop has reportedly fired one of its employees after said employee was featured in a TikTok prank video. Prank videos are a popular form of content on TikTok, and video game retail chain GameStop has found itself the target of many jokes on the platform.
It's not uncommon to see TikTok pranksters visit local GameStop stores and troll the employees. One popular prank sees TikTokers attempt to trade in fake video games with ridiculous titles or box art to see how the employees react. Most GameStop employees featured in these videos are not amused by the joke, and some of them even go as far as to call the cops.
A recent TikTok video by content creator Seth Meiring shows Meiring trading in a fake video game called Cousin Kisser: The Game for Xbox One. The box art featured the GameStop employee working the register at the time, a person known on TikTok as Dawesome, along with Lucy Hale from Pretty Little Liars. Most GameStop employees in these kinds of videos react with anger or frustration, leading to a running joke on TikTok about how there are no "chill" GameStop employees. Dawesome, on the other hand, went along with the joke, saying, "That's actually my cousin, I don't know how you got that one."
As the video progresses, a GameStop customer realizes what's going on and intentionally blocks the camera to stop the content creator from "filming employees without their consent." Meiring says the person was "definitely a cousin kisser." Some more words are exchanged, but then Meiring leaves the Cousin Kisser "game" with Dawesome and exits the store. The video has amassed over 2.4 million views and 411,000 likes at the time of this writing.
GameStop prank videos like this are a dime a dozen on TikTok and YouTube, but unfortunately, this one actually cost Dawesome his job. He confirmed as much in a stitch of Meiring's prank video, explaining that the GameStop customer was upset that he didn't do anything to stop the recording. He was reported to corporate and his boss ultimately decided to let him go. "It sucks, but what can you do," Dawesome said in his video.
Dawesome's video has over 659,000 views and over 93,000 likes so far. The comment section of Meiring's video has been flooded with messages from TikTok users trying to alert the content creator to the unfortunate situation. This isn't the first time that a TikTok prank video has gone wrong, and it's unlikely to be the last.