Black man sent to prison for ice-cream-licking prank video

A man has been sentenced to 30 days in prison for making a prank video in which he licks ice cream in a shop and puts it back on the shelf.

D'Adrien Anderson, 24, shared the video last August, and it shows him taking out the tub, removing the lid, licking, and replacing it on the shelf.

Security cameras show that he then removed the ice cream and paid for it, even returning to the Walmart store in Port Arthur, Texas, to show law enforcement his receipt.

The prank has cost him 100 hours of unpaid work, and a $1,000 fine alongside the prison sentence.

He was also ordered to pay $1,565 to the ice cream company Blue Bell Creameries to cover the costs of replacing all of the ice cream in the freezer as a precaution.

In this time of coronavirus, a lot of people had zero sympathy. There were fears that such pranks could spread disease.

But any potential disease transferred to the ice cream could not have been passed on to another person as the tub was not left on the shelf.

He took it back out, walked to the checkout, paid for it – with his own money – and took it home.

And he’s got the receipt to prove it.

People are asking whether the fact that he's black played any part in the harsh sentencing.

For context, Stanford student Brock Turner received a six month sentence back in 2016 for the sexual assault of an unconscious woman, but was released after three months.

In another case of double standards, in 2015 Ariana Grande was caught licking a doughnut on the counter of a bakery.

She issued an apology online but no charges were brought against the star.

Maybe pranks by non-famous black men are less tolerable.

So why are people licking ice cream and putting it back?

The trend started back in July when a teenager was shown in a video posted on Twitter taking a tub of Blue Bell ice cream out of the freezer in a Texas Walmart, licking it, and replacing it on the shelf.

Blue Bell ice cream does not have a plastic seal over the top but makers say that the cardboard top of the tub forms a seal with the ice cream.

Her actions prompted copycat pranks on social media, despite widespread outcry calling it disgusting.

Tampering with a consumer product is a second-degree felony in Texas where charges can reach between two and 20 years jail time and a fine of up to $10,000. As a juvenile the woman faced lesser charges and greater anonymity protections.

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