A boyfriend has been branded "cruel" after playing a "humiliating" prank on his girlfriend and then uploading it to social media.
On September 27, John Schoepf uploaded a video to his TikTok account showing him playing a prank on his girlfriend. However, rather than find the video funny, users have branded Schoepf and the prank as "emotionally manipulative".
In the caption, Schoepf explains: "When your gf is terrified of sharks, and you push her in a shark tank."
You can see the video below - does Josh go too far?The clip shows Schoepf and his girlfriend, Taylor, walking down a pier with some of their friends in Cancun, Mexico.
Then, immediately after one of Taylor's friends points out a shark to her, Schoepf pushes his girlfriend into the water.
Panicked by the situation, Taylor frantically tries to pull herself out and can be heard asking her friends for help.
When she is pulled back onto the dock, she can be seen hysterically crying, as a laughing Schoepf hugs her.
Throughout the video, the theme from the 1975 horror movie Jaws can be heard playing in the background.
The prank has since been viewed over 7.4 million times on the social media platform, with many angry TikTok users taking to the comments section to slam Schoepf.
One person wrote: "Pushing her in and then comforting her after is the most manipulative thing I've ever seen."
Another TikTokker wrote: "You can see the intense panic in her face when she's saying 'help me' to those 2 girls [...] so beyond sad."
A third typed: "This is simply extremely abusive behavior."
A fourth concerned TikTok user wrote: "That's not funny it's humiliating. So embarrassing to be crying in front of a crowd of people while being recorded. This was cruel not funny." The post was then ended with a "red flag" emoji.
User Abby Matzek echoed the comment above, writing: "Red Flag [...] Messing with people using their fears is not funny. It's beyond cruel."
Although no sharks can be seen in the water, Schoepf did include the hashtag "#nurseshark" in the caption for his video, which suggests there may have been a nurse shark in the water - which are completely harmless to humans.
In a follow-up video, both Josh and Taylor can be seen alongside the original clip, with Schoepf joking: "Here she is, alive and well."
Josh then explains that although "everybody hates" him, Taylor was never in any danger, and the shark in the water was being petted.
Taylor even says: "It really wasn't a big deal."
The pair then end the second video with a kiss.
But once again, people weren't impressed with what they were seeing, and Josh's comments section was once again flooded with messages calling him out for being "emotionally abusive".
One TikTok user responded, saying: "It's the trying to justify abusive behaviors for me."
As a second user added: "Just because you were physically going to be safe doesn't mean it was a good joke. This is emotionally abusive and you shouldn't have to deal with it."
And a third wrote: "The point is you deserve to be in a relationship with someone who PROTECTS you from your biggest fears not THROWS you in front of them!"
What do you think? Was the just a harmless prank in a healthy relationship or did Josh go too far? Let us know in the comments section.
If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or chat with a representative HERE.