He Gave a Homeless Man $100 and Followed Him — What Happened Next Surprised Him

YouTube creator Josh Paler Lin approached a homeless man in California shortly before Christmas and handed him $100. Lin then followed him with a camera, expecting the money might confirm a familiar and damaging assumption about people living on the streets.

What appeared in the resulting video challenged that expectation and quickly attracted millions of viewers. However, later allegations raised questions about whether every part of the “secret” experiment happened exactly as presented.