Jalal brothers: Are prank victims faking it?

THEY are the brothers who have gained notoriety for their outlandish stunts featuring fake abductions and suicide bombs. But how much are they faking it?

THEY are Melbourne brothers who have gained notoriety with their outlandish stunts and public pranks featuring fake abductions and suicide bomb stunts.

More recently, it was a video of them firing a gun at a young girl and her father that caused a massive social media backlash.

While some admit the stunts are funny, others claim there is more to the stunts than meets the eye and they are in fact faked.

One person who featured in one of the brothers’ videos claims it was all set up and took several takes to pull together.

A caller, identified as Liam from Knoxfield, told Triple M’s Merrick and Australia yesterday that he believed many of the stunts were faked, or at the very least set up.

Liam said he had appeared in one bomb scare video after being approached to take part.

“They came and approached us and asked if we wanted to be on YouTube,” he told drivetime host Merrick Watts.

“We did six takes before they were happy.”

Watts then asked if the caller found the videos funny to which he replied yes.

The Jalal brothers came under fire after shooting a fake AK-47 at unsuspecting victims. Picture: Screengrab

Liam also insisted the little girl and her father featured in the latest video would have known about the prank and would have been approached beforehand.

“That little girl... it would have all been set up,” the caller said.

“There’s a person standing there with a big camera.”

Watts said he found it hard to believe you could prepare a young kid for such a stunt, but Liam said they probably did around 10 takes to get that reaction.

Australian comedian Chris Taylor and star of ABC hit show The Chaser’s War on Everything told Watts that many of his own stunts were set up, and people were aware they were being filmed.

Referring to one stunt which involved Taylor going into shops wearing a stocking on his head, Watts said he found that funny, yet failed to have the same reaction by the Jalal brothers’ video.

Taylor said his stunts were very different to those of the brothers.

“For one thing I wasn’t waving a gun in anyone’s face,” he said.

The latest video features a car driving by firing an AK47 at unsuspecting people.

“The other important thing is that was filmed under extremely controlled conditions, by which I mean it was almost faked - everyone in that in every one of those stunts people were aware they were being filmed.

“In the stocking piece the producers went in ahead of me and said it was for a comedy show.”

When quizzed about the stunts being faked on Sunrise and Today this morning, the Jalals denied they were set up and insisted the reactions were real.

Max said the driver put the gun down as soon as the little girl was spotted and the prank was stopped.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday to their 1.9 million followers, the trio indicated it wasn’t faked with the girl “accidentally walked into our prank”.

Omar Jammal posted: “I’m a muslim, and I find this very funny To my brothers and sisters in America and all over the world, don’t listen to the media! Good job boys, thank you for turning a negative idea about Islam into something positive!”

Others on Max’s personal Facebook page were supportive, telling him to ignore the haters.

Others accused the media of feeding the publicity.

Another wrote: “Dying right now... You boys rent Koshie so bad about the Arabian robe.”

However, many of Facebook criticised the trio for causing unnecessary trauma to the girl, and said they failed to see the funny side of things.

MORE BACKLASH:

The Jalal brothers have caused backlash in the past with their outlandish stunts.

Last December, the trio copped a grilling on Facebook after releasing their Public Bomb Scare Prank on Facebook.

craziest reactions we got 󾌴 - like "Jalals" for more

Posted by Jalals on Wednesday, 16 December 2015

The video, which went viral, showed the trio dressed in traditional Arabic clothing, throwing a bag at unsuspecting members of the public.

A man jumps into the water after a bag was thrown at him. This December video attracted some harsh feedback for the brothers.

One man, sitting by the water, was so terrified he jumped into the water to get away from it.

One commenter said: “Can’t wait to see one when the idiot gets jumped and beaten to death by the people he’s scaring. This isn’t a prank it’s genuine terrorism fake bomb or not you are installing fear in people so you are at risk of jail. Silly pr***s.”

Another said it was scaring people, joke or otherwise.

“Should be jailed ... I feel like putting a petition in to jail people who prank like this. this is not helping the Muslim community and making fear more visible.”

“It’s not funny thinking you’re about to die, if that was me and I’m about to die I’m going to gun down the **** down with me.”

The latest video sparked a storm of criticism.

Then in January the pranksters released another video which featured them running up behind a woman and throwing a bag on her head before throwing her in a van.

That stunt attracted criticism as well with one commentator remarking: “I hope you guys get shot some day.”

Fellow prankster Shammi, who was on a date with his girlfriend when the video was shot, told MailOnlineshe knew nothing about the stunt, adding even he felt it went too far.

“She didn’t know anything about it before it happened, I told her we were going to get lunch,” he said.

“It was all over in about five seconds, but she wasn’t impressed. Even though she’s prepared for pranks, you still wouldn’t think about it straight away.

“I have watched their most recently video and I think they are getting really extreme now, personally I think it’s going a bit too far.”