Streamer Sam Pepper Banned From Pump.fun, Kick After Injuring Girl With Firework Stunt

By Ryan S. Gladwin

Content creator Sam Pepper was banned from livestreaming platforms Pump.fun and Kick after sending a young teen to the hospital in New Delhi, India, by hitting them in the face with a firework while live.

Pepper and his friends had been firing Roman candle-style fireworks at each other during the Diwali festival, with locals joining in on the chaos. Any enjoyment quickly turned sour when the British influencer directly hit a local young teen in the face with a firework.

“Oh my god!” Pepper screamed, pumping one fist in the air as someone nearby yelled, "Headshot!" But the excitement soon faded as the damage became more apparent, and the injured girl was rushed to the hospital on the back of a bike.

Pepper told Decrypt the young teen was “cut above their eyebrow from the point of the rocket,” and went to the hospital to get a “butterfly stitch and [then] was released.” A local said on the livestream that he’d been told that the victim had lost her eye, although the local was skeptical.

“I had a friend go and make sure they were okay, and called the family. And [I] apologized and made sure to give them some compensation for the situation and the hospital fees,” Pepper told Decrypt. “I feel extremely bad about this situation, and will [in] no way be playing with fireworks again.”

Pepper claimed that the girl's "vision is fine,” and that he sent his friend to the hospital with cash, so Pepper couldn’t prove what he’d paid for. “The family don’t speak English, so I briefly said sorry, but that’s it. [I] was too embarrassed to bother them more than that,” he added.

The streamer told Decrypt that he had been "temporarily banned" from Pump.fun, and had received a formal warning. His profile still appeared to be streaming throughout Tuesday morning. However, Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen told Decrypt that Pepper was banned from the platform, and it was implemented on the platform a couple of hours afterward. The Brit was also banned from Kick, where he had cross-streamed the incident.

While the firework incident went viral, the livestreamer's NERVE meme coin—which was launched on Solana via Pump.fun—has dropped nearly 16% to a $148,000 market capitalization over the past 24 hours, according to DEX Screener.

This isn’t the first time that Pepper has found himself in hot water over controversial online content.

Back in 2014, the BBC reported that he was investigated by the LAPD on suspicion of a sexual offense after posting a YouTube video called “Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank,” in which he inappropriately touched multiple women. He also uploaded a video doing the same to men.

Both videos were eventually taken down, and he claimed it was all part of a social experiment to highlight sexual harassment against men. The LAPD told the BBC that it hadn't contacted, interviewed, or arrested Pepper, and ultimately declined to move forward due to a lack of cooperation from the alleged victim.

A year later, he kidnapped one of his friends and pretended to shoot another friend in front of him for a video. Viewers called it cruel, with a petition demanding its removal gaining significant traction. However, the victim defended the video in a now-deleted post on X, saying that he’s "honestly not mad" and it made his friendship with the faux murder victim "much stronger."

Pepper’s incident, likewise, isn’t the first firework-fueled accident tied to Pump.fun.

Last year, a Florida man doused himself in isopropyl alcohol and had friends shoot fireworks at him in an attempt to pump his DARE meme coin. He quickly went up in flames, and was rushed to the hospital with third-degree burns across 30% of his body. The token price pumped, but the dev couldn’t sell due to his poor physical condition. 

He later quit the project and has been livestreaming safer content under a different token.

Editor's note: This story was updated after publication to correct that another person yelled "Headshot," not Pepper himself, and to add further detail regarding the earlier LAPD investigation.

Recommended News