Cape Town - The Elsies River man who fooled the whole country with a staged drive-by shooting which went viral social media, says he never meant to cause widespread panic.
On Wednesday Michael Papier, 24, apologised for the video, but says it was never meant to be posted Facebook.
This is happening in our Cape Flats, i thought this only happened in movies pic.twitter.com/H9F3mDLhQj
— ChocolateMoose (@damian9404) October 26, 2017
The 30-second video shows a green VW Golf driving past a group of men in 15th Avenue, in Elsies River, and the occupants opening fire.
One man falls to the ground while the others scatter.
A second video was later released, in which Michael admits it was a fake, and that he made it to raise awareness among the youth about the dangers of guns and gang violence.
The explanation, noble and true pic.twitter.com/Oc8He0ACaO
— Tumi Sole (@tumisole) October 28, 2017
“The video was my idea, and it was not to cause panic, but to inform the youth in our community that it’s not worth it to be a gangster,” he told the Daily Voice on Wednesday.
“The video was not meant for Facebook and it was leaked, hence us trying to contain it by explaining why it was done. I do apologise to everyone.”
He says the video was filmed in one take and they used firecrackers and home-made “guns” to create the gunfire effects.
And residents, including real gangsters, were in on the act.
“I told a few aunties to shout, others to laugh and the next moment it was ready, set, action! The gun is an iron cylinder. Inside the cylinder I placed a three-shooter klappertjie (fire cracker) wrapped in newspaper and that’s why the gunshots sounded so real,” Michael says.
“The video took five minutes to make. Real 28 gang members are in the video as actors, but I asked their permission beforehand. My brother filmed it on a Galaxy S8 on the third floor of the flats.”
Unemployed Michael, who sells klappertjies (fire crackers), reveals he’s an aspiring movie star.
“It is my dream to do acting and filmmaking. My role model is Emo Adams and like him, I enjoy being a comedian and acting, I am the clown in our court,” says Michael.
He hopes people will take to heart the message he was trying to convey with his video.
“I also had my gruwelike [naughty] moments, but learnt from it. Why must youngsters fight among people they grew up with? Ander dae het almal lekker saam gatties gespeel. (The other day we all played marbles together) Why must we attend funerals, en elke week loop die warme trane oor jou wange (and every week tears run down our cheeks).
“Gangsters are pulling the youth in, but I am pulling them back out,” Michael added.