Supreme Court rules on legal defence, allows cruel practical jokes to prevail
In an unexpected move , the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that “it’s just a prank,” is a iron-clad legal defence. The ruling came in the wake of many YouTube videos that got their creators into trouble for executing pranks—which, unfortunately, weren’t all that funny, and were a little mean.
“We feel that any act committed in the name of comedy should be allowable,” said chief justice Naomi Martel, speaking for the court. “Comedy is sacred. What kind of person would I be to deny someone a few cheap laughs—or even worse—subscribers from their YouTube audience?”
The ruling clearly lays out a prank as “anything that someone somewhere could conceivably find funny.” The new ruling will allow Canadian YouTube pranksters to go to even crazier extremes to make their videos.
“With pranks becoming more and more elaborate, and with some people not quite understanding where exactly the line is for a prank, we felt it was time to step in with a definitive ruling,” said Martel.
This new law was a long time in the making. It originated as an appeal of a case where pranksters Tim and Oti McKracken were arrested after pretending to drive a bus off a cliff.
“Obviously we’re very happy to have this new law in place,” said the lawyer for the two, Jane Archer. “Personally, I found their video to be super funny. I can’t believe that convincing a bus full of people they were going to die in the name of comedy would be a crime at all.”
“We’re already planning to steal a boat and use it to play chicken with canoes in our next video,” said another prank video creator Adam Levitt. “Before the ruling we were worried that intentionally crashing into another boat might get us into trouble, but it’s very reassuring to know that we can just tell them we make prank videos.”
This legal ruling will definitely make Canada a better location for prank video creators to work within, although whether this is the safest option for all other Canadians remains to be seen.
