Dylan Berman, Editor-in-Chief

26th January, 2023

A photo of a fake Lost Coast Outpost article, falsely identifying the minor present in the recently released Wildberries security footage, was posted to a telephone pole on the corner of 16th and J street near Arcata High School. 

This image, shared on Instagram as well, identifies the minor depicted in the footage as “Samantha Hyde.” The name at the top of the article “Max Karson”  is not listed as a Lost Coast Outpost reporter according to their website. There is no student at AHS by the name of Samantha Hyde, in fact there is no student with the last name Hyde. So who is “Samantha Hyde,” and why are people saying she’s the one seen in the video? Samantha Hyde does not exist. This picture appears to be a gender swapped photo of controversial internet comedian Sam Hyde. Sam Hyde, with an online comedy group known as ‘Million Dollar Extreme,’ made surreal and sometimes political sketches uploaded on youtube, before eventually being given a show titled World Peace by Adult Swim Network. His show was canceled after one season because of allegations of anti-semitic and otherwise bigoted content and dog whistles present in the show. Much of his comedy online, despite being masked in many layers of irony, promotes a bigoted belief system. His fan base of internet edgelords has for years created fake posts and articles attributing various current events to him, trying to trick media outlets and innocent observers. He has been named as a freedom fighter in Ukraine, a suspect in mass shootings, and in this case a teenage shoplifter as part of this continued hoax effort. It’s unclear at this time who created or posted the fake image, or their intent.