{"id":248394,"date":"2026-01-16T20:31:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T20:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/248394\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T20:31:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T20:31:16","slug":"dublin-bushman-defends-street-prank-amid-criticism-of-online-video-business-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/248394\/","title":{"rendered":"Dublin \u2018Bushman\u2019 defends street \u2018prank\u2019 amid criticism of online video business \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The person who styles himself as \u201cBushman\u201d to scare people in Dublin<\/a> before posting the videos on social media<\/a> to an audience of 1.1 million says he just wants to \u201cmake people laugh\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, some of those who have encountered Nick Corobceanu described the experience of being targeted as upsetting and unnerving and suggested he might consider alternatives to frightening young women as an occupation.<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9<\/a>\u2019s Liveline on Friday afternoon, Mr Corobceanu said disguising himself as a bush and waiting to scare people on city centre streets was his full-time job, adding that he also employed a cameraman and editor.<\/p>\n

He said his team targeted everyone, but young women feature in 22 of the last 25 posts on his Instagram account.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to be as respectful as possible. I don\u2019t scream at people,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I had very negative feedback I wouldn\u2019t do it,\u201d but he claimed \u201c99 per cent of people are liking it\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the cameras were \u201cnot on the next street\u201d and were very close to him \u201cso people can see this is recorded and that it could be definitely online\u201d. <\/p>\n

If people asked for footage of the \u201cprank\u201d to be deleted he would do it without question, he said. \u201cWe pause everything. We delete, no issue, we don\u2019t argue, we don\u2019t try to change their mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debate was sparked about his activities on Friday after an article<\/a> by Irish Times columnist Brianna Parkins<\/a> questioned the business of \u201cscaring people, filming it and monetising it on the internet\u201d.<\/p>\n

A number of people spoke on Friday expressing disquiet about what Mr Corobceanu does.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0YouTube brings in new controls for teen accountsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Sinead Lawlor, who is in her 20s and lives in Dublin, said she had been targeted a few times and said it was \u201camazing how scary it is. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou really don\u2019t see it coming. I\u2019m always angry after it has happened. You might laugh in the moment but for weeks afterwards it\u2019s mortifying and you spend so much time worrying it will go online.\u201d <\/p>\n

The last time it happened she was with a friend and they were having a \u201cserious and a private conversation\u201d, she said. \u201cWe were scared he might have caught even a bit of what we were saying. He can get people at a very bad time and has no idea who he is targeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said while \u201cwomen probably do give the best reactions and are more likely to scream\u201d, she questioned \u201chow ethical it is to make your living scaring women. I know he says he deletes videos if he\u2019s asked, but you don\u2019t ask. You just want the ground to open up and swallow you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niamh Hoy, from Clontarf, is another young woman who was has been targeted and left shaken by the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a couple of years ago on St Stephen\u2019s Green. It was a miserable day and I\u2019d missed my bus home and had a bad day in work. I was already upset and he gave me such a fright. It was the last straw and I just burst out crying. Even now, that\u2019s so embarrassing to admit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Oversharing on Instagram is narcissistic. Doing it on Facebook is having a meltdownOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing is you never know what\u2019s going on in someone\u2019s life and there are people walking around dealing with bereavements, or maybe really bad health news, and being scared out of nowhere is plainly unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n

She described it as \u201cbizarre\u201d he had chosen this as a way to make a living. \u201cYoung women have enough to worry about when it comes to their safety and we don\u2019t need someone hiding around the corner pretending to be a bush.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven now when I go near that Luas stop I feel a bit on edge and that\u2019s not a nice feeling. That\u2019s probably not just down to him, in fairness, but it\u2019s definitely a contributing factor and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair. He could easily just stop, and maybe try doing something else with his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Corobceanu has been contacted by The Irish Times for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The person who styles himself as \u201cBushman\u201d to scare people in Dublin before posting the videos on social…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,61,542,60,43,6085,58],"class_list":["post-248394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dublin","tag-ie","tag-instagram","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-rte","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}