Number 4 – Calen’s Cop Out (2014)
With network television on the decline, and viewers moving over to more convenient platforms like YouTube, some magicians have gained incredible popularity through videos going viral. One man who noticed that trend was Calen Morelli.
Calen made quite a few different magic videos to try to capture the interest of the internet, but it wasn’t until he released this one that he suddenly became an internet sensation.
With almost 20 million views, Calen’s cheeky confrontation with a police officer captured the imagination of the internet.
Calen even tweeted that he got arrested after refusing to tell how the trick was done.
“Got arrested last night. The cop saw my vid and offered to let me go if I said how it worked.Hell no.Just left jail�� pic.twitter.com/5jwxcDBFoO
— Calen Morelli (@calenmorelli) August 17, 2014“
However, not everyone thought things were quite as they appeared… and eventually Calen was confronted by media group TMZ and confessed that, although the magic was real, the policeman was an actor and the whole scene was staged.
Calen tried to justify the staging of the scene, saying he wanted to bring attention to the hot issues of “the legalisation of marijuana” and the Ferguson police/race issues… but most thought it was solely designed to put the spotlight on him.
Some said it was clever, but a lot of people enjoyed being fooled by the trick but hated being lied to about the situation. None of his other videos have even come close to the number of hits that one had.