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Black Friday Fights — Event Has Become A Spectator Sport, One Fight Might Have Been Staged [Video]

By Dee Sharp
Published on: 14:07 PST, Nov 27, 2015

https://youtu.be/CBHoZ0DLuao

The NY Daily News reported that once again Black Friday Sales all across the country have turned into “Black Friday Fights,” and people whipped out their cameras to capture it all on video. Shoppers have been brawling over sale items since the beginning of Black Friday sales, and people have started cashing in on that trend. It seems that some people go to these sales in order to record the chaos and get brawls on film in order to upload them to YouTube, so they can go viral. If you google “Black Friday Fights,” there are plenty of videos to go around that support that theory. Headlines call attention to the fights, to the extent of titles that say “Best Black Friday Fights” and “Black Friday Fight Compilation Videos.”

Hashtag BlackFridayFights is also trending on Twitter. The event has become a spectator sport, and instead of shopping, people attend in order to get a video to upload to the internet. But then shoppers are all too willing to give these Black Friday video spectators what they are looking for.

Shoppers wait in anticipation for these events in order to get the best deals, some people actually organize groups to go out and get as many of the big deals as possible. Some people want to take advantage of the Black Friday deals so they can fit something nice into their budget, something they might not afford otherwise. Whether or not a flat screen TV or a coffee maker is worth stabbing someone or punching someone for is the real problem here. One solution is perhaps to offer more sales, maybe a month before Thanksgiving, in order to get the sales and give people more options to buy. Until retailers stop the Black Friday madness, these crazy fights are going to continue to happen.

Some stores have opted to not advertise sales on Black Friday, instead they are starting their sales on Thanksgiving evening, which has become a sore subject for employees. Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time that families can get together and reflect on their blessings and spend time with loved ones. Stores used to close on Thanksgiving day or at least part of the day and some still do. However it has been more of a trend to stay open on Thanksgiving in order to get more sales, so it seemed only natural to retailers to move their Black Friday store events to Thanksgiving, in hopes of garnering more sales and lessening the Black Friday event chaos on Friday mornings.

One Black Friday fight video may have been a hoax. CBS News Crimesider reported that a fight at a Louisville, Kentucky, mall might have been staged. Two men allegedly started fighting with each other but were quickly stopped by a security guard, all while being filmed. The two men stopped fighting and someone who may have been a bystander or the person videotaping the fight yelled out “World Star.” World Star refers to a hip hop website that features public brawls. Officer Dennis McDonald told Crimesider that another video seemed to show one of the men stepping forward and throwing his hands up as if he was signaling to the other person to start fighting.

“If one of those participants had been a victim of assault, we would hope they come forward and report it to police,” McDonald said.

“However, if this is a staged incident we would be interested in identifying all parties involved and we would probably pursue charges at a minimum for inciting a riot.”

Louisville police are asking for information on the men involved in the fight below.

https://youtu.be/OVb5_LimeG8

What are your thoughts on Black Friday Fights? Please feel free to comment below.

[Photo by Gunnar Rathbun/Invision for Walmart/AP Images]

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