{"id":55944,"date":"2025-11-30T00:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T00:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55944\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T00:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T00:55:10","slug":"wannabe-influencer-goes-viral-for-doling-out-massive-machetes-to-homeless-people-in-austin-and-new-orleans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55944\/","title":{"rendered":"Wannabe influencer goes viral for doling out massive machetes to homeless people in Austin and New Orleans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A wannabe social media influencer went viral this week when he handed out 18-inch machetes and booze to homeless people in Austin and New Orleans in a bizarre stunt he insisted was for their benefit.<\/p>\n<p>Keith Castillo \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@povwolfy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-nyp-affiliate=\"true\">who goes by \u201cpovwolfy\u201d<\/a> \u2014 posted a video on Thanksgiving to TikTok and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DRgm_9Ejjfw\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-nyp-affiliate=\"true\">Instagram<\/a> that garnered more than 14 million views.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere, want one of these?\u201d Castillo says as he distributed the potentially deadly weapons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHell yeah, man,\u201d one man responds as he accepts the free blade.<\/p>\n<p>One woman asks for \u201cone more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A caption reads, \u201cKeeping the homeless in the streets,\u201d apparently mocking the plight of those without a place to call their own.<\/p>\n<p>The stainless steel Gordon-brand machetes were still wrapped in packaging. Castillo told The Post he purchased them in bulk from online retailer Harbor Freight for less then $5 each.<\/p>\n<p>In another video posted on Nov. 22, Castillo hands out four unwrapped machetes alongside handles of vodka to people on an unidentified Big Easy back road.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"37794205\" width=\"420\" height=\"546\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/instagram-account-povkarson-shared-video-116341736.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a blue &quot;Doing Things&quot; hat receives an 18-inch serrated machete.\" class=\"wp-image-37794205\" style=\"width:420px;height:auto;aspect-ratio:0.76972973;display:block\"  \/>A video taken in New Orleans by influencer povwolfy wherein he<br \/>distributes an unsheathed machete and a handle of vodka. povkarson\/instagram<\/p>\n<p>In a Nov. 20 post, the influencer distributed seven machetes that he termed \u201cbig ass swords\u201d in what he claimed was an effort to keep homeless folks safe. Critics did not react kindly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKeeping them safe [no], making them dangerous [yes],\u201d Instagram user \u201cxraydepartment254\u201d commented.<\/p>\n<p>The 29-year-old told The Post he was on a nationwide tour which began in October, and is currently in Little Rock, Ark., where he is once again \u201chanding out alcohol and machetes to the homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have like 30 machetes in my car right now,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cDude, they\u2019re cheap.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI travel around, bulk record in one city and then for my safety go to another city, do the same thing there for like two weeks and kind of like travel around,\u201d Castillo said.<\/p>\n<p>So far, he\u2019s armed homeless folks in Austin, New Orleans, and Little Rock \u2014 but he has his sights set on larger skylines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have plans to go to Vegas, Skid Row [in L.A.] soon,\u201d Castillo said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI should be in New York in January, I have a lot of friends out there,\u201d he said. \u201cGo hand out a bunch of machetes and fireballs there, too.\u201d The fireballs he referred to are one-ounce bottles of 66-proof Cinnamon whisky.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"37794207\" width=\"332\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/keith-castillo-goes-povkarson-instagram-116341739.jpg\" alt=\"Keith Castillo in a black t-shirt and glasses stands in front of a table filled with serrated machetes.\" class=\"wp-image-37794207\" style=\"width:402px;height:auto;aspect-ratio:0.5625;display:block\"  \/>Keith Castillo, 29, told The Post that he doesn\u2019t believe he\u2019s doing<br \/>anything illegal. povkarson\/instagram<\/p>\n<p>The Corpus Christi, Texas, native said he spoke to police about handing out machetes and was assured he wasn\u2019t doing anything illegal.<\/p>\n<p>Castillo also doesn\u2019t think he is doing anything immoral and believes the homeless people will not use the blades to hurt him or anyone else.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are for, like, tool purposes. They have zero intent for what people are claiming they want to do with the [machetes],\u201d Castillo said.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>He expressed no second thoughts on handing out alcohol to potential substance abusers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly I really don\u2019t care bro, it\u2019s good for the clicks and views, you know,\u201d Castillo said. \u201cGotta do what we have to do so we eat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The NYPD did not comment on the coming stunt or its legality. But law enforcement experts were aghast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat sounds like a cocktail for disaster \u2014 alcohol and machetes. Could we get any dumber?\u201d said retired NYPD Sgt. and John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor Joseph Giacalone, who added that \u201cpossession of a machete isn\u2019t against the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The videos posted to Castillo\u2019s original \u201cpovwolfy\u201d Instagram account each have long, pro-forma advertisements for betting company Stake in their caption section.<\/p>\n<p>Stake, the Austin Police Department, the Little Rock Police Department, and the New Orleans Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A wannabe social media influencer went viral this week when he handed out 18-inch machetes and booze to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5877,2000,3686,9,56,63,65,64,58,1688,19038],"class_list":{"0":"post-55944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-homelessness","10":"tag-new-orleans","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news","16":"tag-us-news","17":"tag-viral-videos","18":"tag-weapons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}