User:JarredEagleSmith

hello
Nelk (stylized as NELK), also referred to as the NELK Boys, and formerly branded as NelkFilmz, is a Canadian YouTube channel and entertainment company known for their prank videos, vlogs, and their brand "Full Send."

Content and brand
NELK's videos, in addition to pranks, are themed around North American college culture. The group's videos combine vlogs of their party lifestyle with footage of their actual pranks.

NELK is known for creating the brand "Full Send”. The brand name refers to partying and living life without thinking about the consequences. The phrase is constantly repeated throughout the group's videos, and it is often displayed on their merchandise. The group has also coined a number of other terms, including "Rona Season," a reference to the group's constant consumption of Corona beer. Sebastiani has referred to the group's trademark words as "Canadian-influenced slang".

Members
NELK officially consists of Kyle Forgeard, Jesse Sebastiani, and Steve Deleonardis. "Salim the Dream" and "Cousin Jay" are also supporting members that are featured in the group's videos. Pat Sebastiani (Jesse's father) and other staff have also appeared in videos a number of times as well. The members of the group, along with some of their filmers and staff members, reside together in a house in Los Angeles and they refer to it as the "FULLSEND House". Being on-site lets them work together on content on an ad hoc basis as opposed to meeting for specific filming times. The group originally resided in Ontario, Canada.

Jesse Sebastiani was known for his self-published documentary, Saved by the Status, and his role in the MTV show Careless Teens, before he joined NELK. Years after joining the group, he expressed his displeasure with his and the group's lifestyle. In a tweet posted on January 29, 2020, he wrote, "I hate fame... I've lost almost everything I use to love about life".

Former members of the group include Niko and Marko Martinovic, Lucas Gasparini, and Jason Pagaduan. Niko and Marko, who are twins, were members of Nelk in the early days of the channel's existence but left in 2015 to start their own prank channel. Gasparini left in 2017 because he was concerned that his involvement portrayed him in a bad light, as well as the pursuit of educational studies as a plumber. Pagaduan, who was known by his Instagram handle "905shooter" or simply "9-0," was dismissed from the group in October 2019 for misrepresenting the Full Send brand by sending inappropriate direct messages to fans, and for allegedly slacking off on work assigned to him by Forgeard.

Platform
As YouTube creators, NELK's content is generally published to the group's self-named YouTube channel. However, due to the nature of the content, almost all of their videos have been demonetized and age-restricted by YouTube. Several of their videos have also been removed completely for violation of YouTube's terms of use. Because they earn almost no money from YouTube, they rely on income from merchandise sales through their "Full Send" brand.

In 2018, their video titled "Pretending to Work at the Google Headquarters" was removed and they were issued a strike by YouTube. As a result, NELK temporarily privatized all of their videos until the strike was lifted to prevent their channel from facing the risk of deletion. In the meantime, they uploaded new content to their website, charging monthly and annual subscriptions.

In August 2020, NELK launched a paid subscription service called the "Send Club" in which members would receive access to additional prank and behind-the-scenes footage in addition to the weekly YouTube videos.

Legal issues
In January 2015, NELK posted a video titled "Coke Prank On Cops" in which they told police officers in Los Angeles that they had "coke" in the back of the car, leading the officers to think that they were referring to cocaine when in reality they were referring to Coca-Cola. In May 2016, the video became a subject of controversy. The group received a warning, and the Los Angeles Police Department released a statement informing the public that the prank was illegal and warning potential copycat pranksters against doing so. NELK has called this prank a breakthrough for their success on YouTube. The video has 37 million views as of August 2020.

In September 2017, Forgeard and Sebastiani were arrested by members of the Toronto Police Service and placed in jail overnight for reasons related to a prank performed at a local-area Toys 'R' Us. Following their arrest, months later, they reported they had won their court case, but they never released the full details of their case to their audience.

In January 2019, Sebastiani was arrested during a prank in which he walked into a Barnes & Noble store with fake blood smeared on a white jumpsuit and asked workers for books on covering up a crime scene. He was charged by Columbus, Ohio police department, and found guilty of disorderly conduct in the Ohio Courts of Common Pleas. Later that year in August, NELK was denied entry to Russia following their "spin the globe challenge" due to Deleonardis's possession of a felony. A month later, in Ireland, NELK planned a meetup in a public park, but failed to notify the local police. The meetup got out of control, with large mobs of fans swarming the area in an unsafe manner, causing the meetup to be cut short.

In May 2020, Forgeard, Deleonardis, along with several other members were arrested for disturbing the peace while filming a prank at a Target store in Mississippi. They were later released on bond.

In September 2020, the police department in Normal, Illinois announced an investigation into NELK after they hosted a flash mob of about 200 people on-campus at Illinois State University in violation of COVID-19 regulations. Chris Koos, the town's mayor, also stated that he intends to pursue legal action against NELK. A week later, police in Seaside Heights, New Jersey broke up a gathering of about 1,500 people at a house being rented by NELK, which violated New Jersey's COVID-19 restrictions. NELK, despite no intentions to draw a crowd, was eventually kicked out of the house by the landlord and 8 fans were arrested.

Legal Team
During legal disputes, NELK has worked with Bradley P. Koffel, an attorney based out of Columbus, Ohio.

Philanthropy
Nelk has donated portions of their merchandise earnings to breast cancer awareness.

In April 2020, Nelk participated in a virtual beer pong tournament called "The Ballina Cup" to raise money to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament was hosted by Post Malone and featured several other celebrities.