SAN DIEGO — One local man has a horrible experience after posting a clip on YouTube.
YouTube’s Web site is filled with video clips from the ordinary to the extraordinary, so when Escondido resident Jason Navarrete decided to post a fun video of his kids online, he had no idea what was about to happen.
The clip is a home movie filled with pure joy. In the clip, Navarrete’s two boys are seen discovering their new Nintendo Wii game player.
"My boy gets up very excitedly, starts dancing around the house — it’s this really funny clip," Navarrete told NBC 7/39.
Navarrete shot the video just before Thanksgiving. He still laughs when he sees it."
But I started telling friends about it," said Navarrete. "I started telling family about it. They’re like, ‘Wow, why don’t you post this on YouTube.’
"The video-hosting Web site allows people around the world to share videos. Visitors to the site can post comments on the Web page the clip is displayed on.It didn’t take long for Navarrete’s YouTube clip to start getting hits."
Literally in the course of a few hours, this thing took off, started gaining traction, took off like a rocket," Navarrete said.Navarrete said the clip was getting thousands of hits, and the comments were all positive. But then all that changed."
Just think of the most vulgar, reprehensible things you could say to a 7-year-old child — and those are some of the things that were being posted," Navarrete said.
The comments turned ugly, with people blasting the kids for their excitement and even for their appearance."
Once you put something out there on a public forum, you never know what’s going to happen," said Privacy Rights Clearinghouse spokeswoman Beth Givens. She said that such attacks can be disturbing.
"Because of the anonymity factor, people think they can basically dump on you," said Givens.Navarrete told NBC 7/39 that he was upset by the attacks.
"My intention was purely to share this with friends and family, and just have a good laugh over it, because it was truly meant as innocent fun, said Navarrete.
A message to the people who insulted his children has replaced the original posting. Navarrete said it was a mistake to post it and that if people have a problem, they should attack him, not his children.
"If you have any issues or problems with the video, contact me instead," said Navarrete. "Don’t direct this sort of ire at my children — they’re innocent. They didn’t do anything wrong. They’re just kids enjoying their new game."
Navarrete told NBC 7/39 that he has received about 1,000 e-mails since he took down the video and posted the message. All of those e-mails have been positive, he said.