Louis Cole

Louis Cole

Cole at VidCon 2014
Born Louis John Cole
28 April 1983
Nationality British
Occupation YouTube vlogger
Known for Food for Louis, Fun for Louis

Louis John Cole (born 28 April 1983) is a British film-maker and YouTube personality from Surrey, England. He is best known for posting a daily video blog about his life and travels on the channel "FunForLouis", but originally found fame through filming eating stunts on another channel, "FoodForLouis."

In 2007 Cole purchased and renovated a double-decker bus, equipping it as a mobile center to help homeless youth with music and videogame facilities.[1] The Boombus project now receives funding from local council wards.[2]

Food for Louis

Cole uploaded the first video to his "Food for Louis" YouTube channel on 18 May 2011, entitled "Eating Live Spider." [3] The clip shows Cole capturing and eating a live house spider. Over the course of the next two years, Cole regularly posted videos in which he was seen to eat a range of unusual foods, including locusts, a raw heart, maggots, a frog corpse, ragworms, and scorpions.[4][5]

In April 2012, Cole posted a video to his YouTube channel Food For Louis that showed him eating a live goldfish. This caused the RSPCA to prepare a case against him under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Since he had previously only eaten invertebrates, the fish was the first incident in which he may have broken the law.[6] The RSPCA's handling of the issue was criticised as "heavy-handed" in the way it pursued a "humane prankster". The case was settled: he admitted his guilt and received a caution, avoiding a trial and a possible criminal record.[7] He has received death threats from some animal lovers.[8]

Cole claims his videos are not cruel and that he kills the animals quickly to avoid any unnecessary suffering. He argues that viewers' disgust is based on ignorance of or bias against other culinary cultures.[9] He has denied that his goldfish-eating stunt caused unnecessary suffering, and claims that the RSPCA is "wasting its time" in pursuing the case.[10]

Fun for Louis

Cole also vlogs on his popular newer YouTube channel Fun for Louis that is a daily chronicle of his life and his world travels.

References

  1. ↑ Johnathan Stayton. "Louis is on the right route to help youth". Get Surrey. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  2. ↑ Poppy Bradbury. "Boom Bus offers bored youngsters something to do". Ealing Gazette. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62sgmrr6q3U
  4. ↑ Thring, Oliver (17 April 2012). "The man who eats live animals". The Guardian blog (London). Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  5. ↑ Laura Hibbard (19 October 2011). "Louis Cole, Web Series Star, Eats Live Scorpion". The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
  6. ↑ "RSPCA launch cruelty probe after man eats goldfish alive in shocking YouTube stunt". The Daily Mail (London). 22 April 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  7. ↑ "Should the RSPCA have pursued the man who ate a live goldfish?". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  8. ↑ "Food for Louis star from Cobham to take on 'worst meal yet'". Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  9. ↑ Franklin, Marcy. "The Guy Who Eats Live Animals Isn’t as Cruel as You Think". The Daily Meal. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  10. ↑ David Lindsell. "Goldfish eater denies animal cruelty". Wandsworth Guardian. Retrieved May 4, 2012.