Bengaluru: Fidias Panayiotou, a prominent Cypriot YouTuber known for his comedy videos, has recently sparked outrage for a controversial stunt he pulled off in Bengaluru. In a video posted on his Instagram account, he demonstrated how to enter the Bengaluru Metro without a valid ticket. Panayiotou claimed that he was “outsmarting” the public transport system for social media attention. However, his actions have been widely criticized online.
In the video, Panayiotou can be heard saying, “I will teach you how to get the metro in India for free”. The video then shows Panayiotou walking up to Indians who are entering the metro station in Bengaluru and asking them, “Do you think I will get in for free or not?” The commuters respond in the negative. However, the YouTuber proceeds to jump over the ticket barriers and access the platform without a valid ticket or token. He nonchalantly bypassed the ticket counter where passengers are required to present their metro cards or tokens.
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Panayiotou later encounters the same commuters on the platform, who express their doubts about his ability to exit the platform without a valid ticket. Undeterred, he boards the metro, travels to another station, and once again hops over the ticket-checking counter, apparently without encountering any security personnel to halt his actions.
The video quickly went viral online, drawing harsh criticism from viewers who accused Panayiotou of essentially stealing from the city. One user commented, “Even though I like you as a person and your content Fidias, this is absolutely wrong and unethical. You shouldn’t really be doing this for content.” Another user wrote, “Good job! Stealing from the hard-working people of India.”
“Such actions must not be encouraged by an influencer. Hope something be done about it!” commented a third user. “Don’t come to India again until you want to follow our rules,” wrote another user.
Notably, Fidias Panayiotou rose to fame for his dream of hugging billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. He spent months chasing the billionaire and even dressed up as a blue bird to get Mr Musk’s attention. Finally, in January, he managed to meet the SpaceX and Tesla chief. He shared a photo on Twitter of himself hugging Elon Musk, an event that taken place at Twitter’s San Francisco office. However, his recent Metro stunt has left many questioning his judgment and ethics in the world of content creation.