Remember That Video of a Homeless Man Spending $100? New Eyewitness Account Casts Doubt on Story

A viral video posted online this month showing a YouTube star "secretly" film how a homeless man spent $100 was staged, according to an apparent eyewitness.

The video showed filmmaker Josh Paler Lin hand a homeless man named Thomas $100. Lin then "secretly" filmed the man to see how he spent it. Instead of walking to the liquor store to purchase alcohol, Thomas purchased food and gave it away to the needy at a nearby park.

Image source: YouTube

Image source: YouTube

The footage captivated a worldwide audience and amassed more than 27 million views on YouTube. A fundraising page created by Lin and aimed at helping Thomas "get a fresh start" raised an excess of $127,000.

However, according to nursing student Taugan Tan Kadalim, who spoke with Vocativ, "The whole thing is bulls**t."

The 26-year-old told the website that he saw both Thomas and Lin arrive at the liquor store together.

"Thomas knew he was being followed," Kadalim said, adding to Voactiv that he had recognized Lin from his previous work.

“Bro, he drove Thomas to the liquor store,” he added. “While I think the guy is homeless, it is clear that from what I saw every part of that scene was staged.”

[sharequote align="center"]"...it is clear that from what I saw every part of that scene was staged.”[/sharequote]

The nursing student's story appeared to be authentic, based on Dec. 20 text messages provided to Vocativ in which he told his girlfriend he saw a famous YouTube star filming a video.

According to Kadalim, Lin first walked out of the car and spoke with the liquor store's cashier. After a short conversation, the YouTube star returned to his car and Thomas entered the store. The filming then commenced.

Vocativ reported they were unable to reach anyone at Euclid Liquor & Market, despite multiple attempts.

Lin did not immediately respond to TheBlaze's request for comment Tuesday evening. However, the filmmaker had previously insisted that the video was not staged or scripted.

"It's a shame to doubt a story like this as unreal," Lin told TheBlaze as his video initially started to gain traction online.

Lin told Vocativ that he planned to give the money raised for Thomas to the homeless man at a future event. He, however, declined to provide the names of his team taking care of the legalities.

YouTube star Josh Paler Lin (Image source: YouTube)

This is not the first time the filmmaker has been accused of staging pranks. A man confessed in a Dec. 19 video that he once participated in a staged video produced by Lin.

TheBlaze also noted in earlier coverage that it was possible the entire video was orchestrated.

Update 8:05 p.m. ET: Josh Paler Lin sent TheBlaze the following statement when asked to respond to allegations the video was staged.

On December 20th, 2014, my videographer and I went out to film a social experiment to find out how a homeless man would spend $100. After driving around Fullerton we came upon Thomas on the side of the 91 highway around 1 o’clock. We then followed Thomas for about 10 minutes before he walked into the liquor store. And then my videographer and I proceeded to follow him for another 45 minutes where he began handing out food to the local homeless people in the park. I then revealed myself and apologized for misjudging him.

Once we had finished filming, my videographer and I wanted to get to know him more and took him out to eat at the local Thai food restaurant before we dropped him back off at the homeless shelter.

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