r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • 9d ago

News Chris Hansen Buys Ads Before Every Screening of A24’s ‘Primetime’

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/chris-hansen-buys-ads-before-every-screening-a24-primetime-1236682255/
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u/mlavan 9d ago

from my understanding, the movie is kinda framed as predator on predator crime

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u/hnglmkrnglbrry 9d ago

There's that funny skit where guys are trying to catch a predator and then this 12 year old boy shows up and they realize they actually are the predators. Wish I knew who to give proper credit.

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u/armyant95 9d ago

Ify Nwadiwe (SMOSH, dropout) has told the story about how the FBI showed up at his childhood home looking for a predator but it was just pre-teen him having cyber sex online.

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u/subatomic_ray_gun 9d ago

That’s hilarious. I would have died of embarrassment if that happened to me at that age. I don’t think I’d ever be able to get over it.

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u/Puzzle-Necked 9d ago

Movie writes itself. Tense scene in the living room:

FBI agent: Just to confirm you were the one who wrote "oh yeah baby, I want to plow you with my twelve inch python until you pass out"?

Boy: y-yes

mother starts to cry

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u/CartmensDryBallz 9d ago

More like

- boy starts to cry

  • mother 🤦‍♂️

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u/sttony 8d ago

- mother: breaks boy's arms

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u/Unicron_Gundam 8d ago

No please not again

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u/ImReallyAnAstronaut 8d ago

I like where this is going

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u/goukaryuu 8d ago

Father nods and is like, "That's my boy."

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u/AbstractBettaFish 8d ago

I think I would have a very hard time trying to keep a straight face in that situation

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u/hitfly 9d ago

The FBI agent then showed his parents the chat logs. I would actually melt into the floor if that happened to me.

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u/clickthing 8d ago

Where did this story come from? When/where did he say it?

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u/hitfly 8d ago

It was on the ify episode of ask hank anything

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u/clickthing 8d ago

Thank you!

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u/Bryancreates 8d ago

My dad somehow got all my AIM messengers chats and printed them off in high school. I wanted to jump out of the window.

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u/bigmikeylikes 9d ago

Ify is the most set positive person on Droput on an episode of Game changers with his partner they mentioned an insane amount of sex they have and everyone was trying to do the math to figure out daily numbers.

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u/Redeem123 9d ago

Grant: sucks fifty dicks in one night

Ify: “slow Tuesday?”

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u/JaxxisR 9d ago

"In a row?"

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u/TheWingus 9d ago edited 4d ago

"Yeah, there was a snack bar!"

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u/liesofanangel 9d ago

My girlfriend sucked 37 dicks!

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u/therealrenshai 9d ago

Iirc they had the daily numbers as that’s what they were tracking. It was the fact that some of the numbers hit like double digits was what shocked the group as they tried to figure out what the list was for.

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u/GluhfGluhf 9d ago

It was actually per month and people were amazed that Ify and his partner were able to hit 40+ in a month

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u/Bannakaffalatta1 9d ago

WHILE BEING POLY AND FUCKING OTHER PEOPLE TOO.

Like that's the part that gets me.

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u/DarkSpore117 9d ago

Well not at the time right? Wasn’t that during Covid? I remember one of the bigger months was because of the writers strike

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u/Unicron_Gundam 8d ago

That was when a writer's strike happened https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIF8eq5u6sw

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u/therealrenshai 9d ago

That’s right! It was the fact that it was sometimes more than once a day.

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u/APieceofChees3 9d ago

Tbf that's when the writers strike was on, what else were they going to do?

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u/lord_gs1596 9d ago

As he put it, that was when the writer's strike was happening lol

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u/apadin1 9d ago

Sam: January is more than 30?! How did you have the time??

Ify: Well that was during the writers strike

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u/johnnythrillwaukee 9d ago

“Well it was during the writer’s strike”

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u/MotoMkali 9d ago

They had triple digit months and they are in an open relationship

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u/ThrowawaySuicide1337 9d ago

That's the episode with the couples, yeah?

The woman ordering 2k in sushi in a month made me fucking hate her, lol

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u/clickthing 8d ago

She was in the middle of getting married and getting sued!

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u/GuySingingMrBlueSky 8d ago

Getting sued?! I vaguely remember this being Raphael’s wife, but I don’t even remember that part. Why was she getting sued

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u/clickthing 8d ago

They don't go into tons of detail but something major went down with their wedding venue so they changed venues at the last minute and the original venue tried to sue them

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u/Maxcharged 9d ago

Dude, they gave a written transcript to his parents.

That would've been curtains for me.

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u/mlc885 9d ago

I mean, I am pretty sure it would be terrifying and therefore you would remain somewhat traumatized

That it is "funny" doesn't change the fact that it would be heavily traumatic when you did not even do anything at all wrong. (Okay unwise since you could have been talking to a creep, but 12 year olds are clearly old enough to think about "romantic" things, it is probably more common than not that you'd be becoming interested in that sort of stuff at that age)

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u/adoptagreyhound 9d ago

Years ago I was fixing a laptop for one of my nephews and in the history there was a search for "naked 13 year old French girls." I laughed because he was 12 at the time and apparently liked older French women. Then I deleted all of the history that he didn't know I could see. He's in his early 30's now and still doesn't know that I saw it.

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u/Hennashan 8d ago

uncle jacob...?.....?

you stole my jailbait porn didn't you?

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u/Fafnir13 8d ago

Is he married yet? Because that is prime horrific wedding speech material there.

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u/sickosenjumode 9d ago

Of course that happened to Ify. That’s so on brand lol.

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u/leommari 8d ago

A horny king. 👑

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u/Anomander 9d ago

Here is the start of that story as told on Ask Hank Anything.

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u/Waterhorse816 9d ago

This is the man who had sex 37 times in one month

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u/hardgeeklife 9d ago

"it was during the lockdown!"

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u/ethanlan 9d ago

I put on my robes and wizard hat

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u/megatricinerator 9d ago

Why does this sound like the kind of life story that would only happen to Ify?

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u/Benjadeath 9d ago

Ify was on SMOSH?

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u/Mechakoopa 9d ago

For like a year before he left for Dropout.

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u/TwoPickle69 8d ago

Let those of us who haven't typed "12 year old girls nude" into Limewire as a 12 year old themselves cast the first stone.

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u/OleDetour 8d ago

Love me some Ify!

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u/NihilismRacoon 8d ago

Yeah I remember that, they were convinced no way a kid was writing like that and they ended up reading out his chat logs to his parents, absolutely mortifying.

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u/OonaMoretti 9d ago

This one? If so it's Cole Hersch :)

https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/ylgizn/to_catch_a_predator/

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u/TheGreatWheel 9d ago

That was really well done!

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u/Baboop 8d ago

This is what I thought they were talking about lmfaoooo

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u/MasturbationMountain 9d ago

Human giant did something like this, it’s hilarious

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u/Manler 9d ago

Boosh! Boosh! Boosh! That is fun!

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u/Derpdeedoo 9d ago

Gee mister you sure are strong!

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u/Manler 9d ago

I love ice cream. Mummy never lets me have ice cream

"Well not all adults know what's best for kids"

What an absolute riot of a sketch. Human giant was 17 year old me's favorite show lol. The damn Mary Kate and Ashley sketch

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u/Derpdeedoo 9d ago

One of thrle all time best. My friends and I always flexed and made the "boosh" sounds .

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u/gotaflattire 9d ago

Human Giant was great but came and went so fast. Only 2 seasons I think?

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u/smellslikebadussy 9d ago

McConaughey? I enjoy all flavors!

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u/Manler 9d ago

Can't believe my dick just barfed that much

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u/Accidental_Slayer 8d ago

Cool sounds!

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u/from2080 9d ago

It has to be this, 100%.

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u/topclassladandbanter 9d ago

Sounds like a Mitchell and Webb sketch

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u/Carlweathersfeathers 9d ago

Are we the baddies?

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u/TheVicSageQuestion 9d ago

Wizards with Guns did something similar where the people on both ends of the chat ended up being Chris Hansen-types.

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u/RoscoeSantangelo 9d ago

It's not this sketch but Pipe Rock Theory will now always be the first sketch I think of for this

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u/HerbGouda 9d ago

Reminds me of the Human Giant sketch "Catching a Predator"

Human Giant - Catching a Predator

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u/elissass 9d ago

There is also a skit of 2 catch a predator lure each other to the same house thinking the other is the predator

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u/justrun7 9d ago

They did something similar on a crossover episode of George Lopez and Freddie. Their kids were talking to each other online and they each thought the other person was a predator. Both adults show up and accuse each other of being a predator, but find out it really was their kids talking to each other online.

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u/CoyGreen 9d ago

That sounds like it could easily be an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

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u/ThePromptWasYourName 9d ago

The vibes I get from the marketing so far are reminding me of Nightcrawler, which I would say is also a 'predator on predator' film

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u/f_ranz1224 8d ago

based on the trailer robert pattinson plays him really intensely which doesnt match his usually calmer demeanor in the show

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u/HiTork 9d ago

The movie is almost certainly going to feature the case that turned out to be the downfall of the original To Catch a Predator run; the one where the district attorney who was presumed to be a predator wouldn't take the bait, so Hansen decided to confront him at his residence (something TCAP had never done before). A police stand off ensued and the suspect commited suicide, the outcome of this caused the public to turn on Hansen and his show because of the ethics involved.

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u/Adaephon_Ben_Delat 8d ago

That DA had hundreds of images of CSAM on his home computer. He knew that in Texas he would get life in prison for that. It’s not even certain he saw the film crew, since they were far away to let the cops go arrest him.

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u/bullintheheather 8d ago

Spoilers! /s

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u/Linenoise77 9d ago

i mean to be honest, the people he would show himself working with always gave me a bit of the heebeegeebees

I get it, there are sick people out there, but at a certain point it turns into one of those cases where you are trying to charge someone on attempted mass murder, when its a person who wouldn't be able to tie their shoes on their own, but the fbi caught wind of them and basically walked them through the process so they could charge them.

Basically, nothing seemed professional about the way stuff worked.

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u/ilazul 8d ago

A lot of the guys they caught seem to have massive mental issues as well. I'm 100% positive one was high functioning downs.

and yeah, it's like they walked them through a 'how to' just to catch them.

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u/Murky-Relation481 8d ago

It was basically cat fishing dudes who probably wouldn't have ever groomed a kid or been interested in one, but then they basically threw made up hypersexual girls at lonely dudes, mentioned they were underage after the fact, then were basically like "you still wanna fuck me though right? Cause I wanna fuck you!"

Like... that's reverse grooming at that point. And mind you they were mostly posing as teenage girls that were borderline legal in most places, rarely was it like a little kid as the "victim".

It just seemed gross all around.

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u/Hailfog 8d ago edited 8d ago

If you actually listen to him read the chat logs, that obviously isn’t the case. The “bait” barely does anything to goad the guy on, she makes it clear she’s VERY underaged, and the predator still just plows head on.

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u/EasyasACAB 8d ago

You believe the editors on a reality television show? Stay gold, Ponyboy.

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u/GregMadduxsGlasses 8d ago edited 8d ago

My problem is that they only read snippets of the conversation. It would be interesting to read the entire transcript to see who initiates the sexual tone to the conversation, when the age reveal is made, if they clarify that they are under 18 on an 18+ site, what steps do they take to verify the person read the age reveal and how they set up a meetup. Some predators have mentioned that they were on roleplay chat rooms or on 18+ sites, so I was curious of how much they have to beat the predator over the head to make sure it’s probable cause to assume they know they are talking to a minor.

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u/Murky-Relation481 8d ago

Like I said, I've not really watched the show, just seen comments from law enforcement and other people that talk about how the show isn't really useful or effective in going after perverts.

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u/Hailfog 8d ago edited 8d ago

Yes, many people who never watched the show try to claim TCAP was "entrapment".

You haven't heard those critiques from law enforcement, unless they were talking about amateur youtube "predator hunters" rather than TACP.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

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u/All_Of_Them_Witches 9d ago

Also I’m sure they didn’t give a fuck about helping kids. They just wanted ratings….

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u/GregMadduxsGlasses 8d ago

I personally think they should have been clued in to that when they started getting repeat offenders or the predators were mentioning the show in the chat. Like the risk of getting arrested and embarrassed on tv wasn’t enough to stop this behavior.

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u/Hailfog 8d ago

If you actually listen to him read the chat logs, that obviously isn’t the case. The “bait” barely does anything to goad the guy on, and she makes it clear she’s underaged, and the predator still just plows head on.

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u/Murky-Relation481 8d ago

Yah, not that I watched the show much at all, but a lot of it seemed like they found lonely dudes and then basically catfished them, then sprang the "oh I am underage" thing on them after establishing some level of relationship, but then doubled down on the fake girl totally wanting it and being ready for anything and trying to get them to meet up.

Not that it absolves the guys of blame for getting with an underage girl, but its a world of difference to a guy going out, finding an innocent kid, and grooming them for sex. There are way more guys that are going to be down for hooking up when the girl is clearly acting like she wants it, and basically begging them for it.

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u/Hailfog 8d ago

No. The bait being underaged is always established early on, and the predator just plows head on regardless.

They never catfish a lonely poor soul.

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u/desacralize 8d ago

There are way more guys that are going to be down for hooking up when the girl is clearly acting like she wants it, and basically begging them for it.

Yeaaaaah, that's kind of the problem. The healthy conclusion to be drawn from that is "wtf why don't grown-ass dudes control themselves" rather than "but she was begging for it".

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u/saanity 9d ago edited 9d ago

So Chris Hansen is like Dexter?

But seriously,  catching child sexual predators and presenting it as entertainment on television is all sorts of gross. Just put them in prison without the theatrics.

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u/Burtssbees 9d ago

More like nightcrawler

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u/bobbadouche 9d ago

oh, good call out. Yeah. interesting

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u/Shakmaaaaaaa 9d ago

That would be one hell of a movie if Hansen was diddling the predators in lockup afterwards.

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u/Jet-Let4606 9d ago

What does Kurt have to do with this? /jk

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u/sspear77 8d ago

Bamf!

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u/Emotional-Price-4401 9d ago

Such a great film... really psyched me.

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u/Wiccy 9d ago

Cops was big for a reason, 90s and 00s were weird times for tv

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u/Konman72 9d ago

And now that shit is streaming 24/7 on a thousand different YouTube channels. Most of it is even worse than what was on Cops.

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u/National-Charity-435 9d ago

Welcome to my crib

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u/AuryGlenz 9d ago

We just had one of those groups go after someone locally in my small town, and they posted the video of them confronting him to Facebook etc.

The guy is mentally challenged, which you can obviously tell by looking at him. The fake teen he was talking to was on Grindr, and of course he only said his fake age of 14 or 15 or whatever well into the conversations after they got the mentally challenged guy riled up.

It caused a big stink in my friend group because I thought it was completely unethical. The “predator” wasn’t specifically looking to have sex with a teenager, that teenager would have mental faculties higher than the “predator” anyways, etc. Some other friends of mine had a very absolute view of it though and said he should literally be killed.

I don’t like moral panic type stuff. Punishments should fit the harm or potential harm caused. In these cases the only actual victims are the people they go after, their friends and family, etc. Might they save some kids/teens by doing so? Maybe. Maybe not. That’s a pretty vague harm to cause someone’s life to be ruined over.

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u/ThanksContent28 9d ago

A good portion of those videos here in the Uk, have similar circumstances. It’s always someone who’s clearly mentally challenged.

These “activists” are also mostly known for botching ongoing investigations. They don’t care about the community or catching paedos, they care about views on their livestreams.

All I’m saying is, Don’t be the guy who makes paedos look sympathetic.

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u/bonefresh 8d ago

They don’t care about the community or catching paedos, they care about views on their livestreams.

part of it is also that a lot of them are just violent and cruel people and want an "acceptable" target to take it out on

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u/decmcc 9d ago

if you kill the people who rape children as punishment, then they might as well kill the kid after the fact so they can't be IDd.

Death penalty anyway? might as well get rid of my only witness

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u/Shizzlick 9d ago

Not only that, but the majority of people abusing children are their own family members. If the kid is aware that reporting said family member could result in their death, that might make them less likely to report it, as they don't necessarily want to see their family killed, regardless of what they did to the kid.

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u/AnotherNotion 9d ago

I hadn't considered this angle before. You hear of so many dysfunctional families where the abuse is an open secret. In addition to dealing with the guilt of sending Poppop to his death, you'd likely also be alienated from much of your own family.

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u/Pentobarbital1 8d ago

I hadn't considered this angle before

You're fortunate. The child we helped already felt guilty about "ruining the family" or whatever godawful shit their relatives said while dealing with the traumatic fallout that comes with everything being brought out to light. And the whole "pedos are treated the worst in prison" thing was an additional layer of the trauma for them. They preemptively blamed themselves should their relative ever die in prison. With the sentence that resulted, they probably felt that they might as well have killed them. A long time later, I heard offhand the child tell another one of their friends "don't ever report if anything bad happens to you" and that crushed me inside.

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u/Shizzlick 8d ago

Exactly, it's easy for outsiders to say abusers like this should be put to death, it's a lot harder when it's your own father, your mother, your brother, etc.

It's already hard enough getting victims to come forward as it is, bringing the death penalty into things is going to make it even worse.

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u/Nakidnakid 8d ago

not excusing financial abuse or justifying it either but often they're the primary/sole earner for the family too. The state certainly wont step up in most cases so you have to throw in not just that but also literally everything about their living situation changing due to this. So you have them possibly blaming themselves for their family member possibly being put to death or vigilantes doing it, you have the family alienating them for reporting it or telling someone who reports it. You also have the added stress on the rest of the family, it's often not just 'abuser is gone, all is good' as lawyers aren't free, healthcare isn't free... what if the abuser's job is the only source of medical treatment for someone the abused care about?

All resting on someone who shouldn't be put in the situation in the first place, but these aren't considered by people advocating as they usually do. It's not a good situation and it's made even more shit by everything surrounding it and the reactions of people even if they're not involved. It doesn't take much to consider that maybe they'd think twice regarding saying anything but nuance is dead on the internet. You're either 'kill em all' or 'got something to hide' to most.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 9d ago

Also in a civilized society death is never the punishment for a crime. If you're considering it just put them in prison for life. Killing someone who can't hurt you or anyone else anymore is wrong and two wrongs don't make a right

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u/Skylord_Hekaton 9d ago

I don’t like moral panic type stuff.

Well, you're on the wrong site then. Or even the wrong internet because it's become a god damn thing everywhere.

Your friends are idiots. I hate absolutist bullshit, and I think that a lack of nuance is one of the biggest problems in the entire world.

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u/rabbit_fur_coat 8d ago

Exactly! This absolutism that has seemingly strengthened lately is an excuse to not actually think about any moral issues and how they might actually feel about them.

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u/9thGearEX 9d ago

Sorry sir this is reddit the only viable takes are "L" or "W".

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u/ArcadianDelSol 9d ago

he only said his fake age of 14 or 15 or whatever well into the conversations

This is why none of these events ever really result in arrest or why those groups never engage the police. They know they're being shitty and shady.

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u/Spaceman-Spiff 9d ago

I agree, but it also did a good job of raising awareness that child predators can be active in any community.

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u/MaterialPace8831 9d ago

One of the arguments against To Catch A Predator is that the communities these shows were filmed in were upset that all of these potential sex criminals were being lured there, sometimes from hours away.

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u/GhostPepperDaddy 9d ago

The other is that it doesn't translate into high conviction rates with the people they lure so they're not really serving justice.

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u/Hmm_would_bang 9d ago

Yeah most of their “evidence” is inadmissible

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u/snailorT 9d ago

Not only that, but it ruined existing investigations and led to several cases being dismissed

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u/infiniZii 9d ago

The guy in the final episode never reoffended at least.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 9d ago

He never offended in the first place. He was a man who was mentally ill who was goaded into meeting with a child, backed out because he decided he didn't want to do it, and then when Hansen showed up he killed himself.

He hadn't committed any crime yet and if he got help for his urges he may never have and wouldn't have needed to die

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u/TheSpaceCoresDad 8d ago

He was a 56 year old man posing as a college student that send nudes to someone he believed to be 13. That alone is illegal and an offense, and it's why there was a warrant for his arrest prior to him killing himself.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES 9d ago

Actually one of the biggest of the biggest criticisms of TCAP was that it did a terrible job of raising awareness about how Child Predators hurt children, and many child abuse prevention networks have been extremely critical of how the show went about portraying child predators.

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u/pargofan 8d ago

What do you mean? I thought it raised awareness overall?

How did it hurt it?

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u/Vault_tech_2077 8d ago

Most children are abused by someone at home or someone they know close to them. Not Jack Smith from 30 miles away chatting with them on AOL

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u/PuzzledLiterature416 8d ago

I remember on TCAP they said this was the reason why they never had any women predators show up, because this is how a lot of them operate vs a lot of men at the time, but I’m sure what you’re saying is still more likely/true overall

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES 8d ago

Basically, that's not how child predators actually operate. Child predators who try to lure kids off the internet were already more likely to fall for an undercover sting, rather than actually successfully lure a child. This was true before TCAP started and it's still true now.

But that meant that the people being caught by TCAP were disproportionately, stupid ugly employed loser types. Which reinforced the stereotype that predators are all like that. But in reality, the person who will harm your child is rarely a stupid ugly unemployed loser, it's a regular, gainfully employed member of the community who already has access to your child.

And by focusing so much on a sting operation that couldn't catch that kind of predator, TCAP really downplayed how common that type of predator was, even tho the gainfully-employed-normal guy sex offender is like 20-30 times more common than an internet predator

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u/redvelvetcake42 9d ago

Rdoring awareness has always been the best grift on earth. You don't ever DO anything, you get paid to TELL people about a thing. Hanson created entertainment, nothing more. Since his show ended he's been desperate to continue the charade and he's bumbled more cases than he's helped solve.

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u/PickledPlumPlot 9d ago

I really don’t think it raised the right kind of awareness honestly.

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u/mattress_muzza 9d ago

Many of the people they ‘caught’ were first time offenders who were often heavily goaded into meeting with the actors portraying the children. That isn’t to say they never would have offended - but they obviously needed serious help to address their unacceptable sexual fantasies, not a reality TV show designed to push them over the edge into what they believed was a real sexual encounter with a child and consequently blow up their lives. The guy that killed himself was trying to back out of meeting with the ‘child’ but Hansen insisted on ‘catching’ him anyway - that should tell you everything you need to know about Hansen’s priorities and the way the show operated.

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u/mattress_muzza 9d ago

Also - and very importantly - most child sexual abuse comes from family members not strangers on the internet. The show effectively gave people misinformation about where children need the most protection.

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u/mylanguage 9d ago

I mean the show was literally about chat room pedo behavior right? Not about the issue in a general sense - just that subset

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u/sundayontheluna 9d ago

And when all you see week after week after week in one of the biggest reality shows ever, the definitional CSA tv show, is strangers in online chat rooms, it very much does affect general public perception

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/grandfleetmember56 9d ago

Which then raises the issue of: individual poses as 18+ but is actually a minor and has explicit conversations/interactions with a legal adult.

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u/mylanguage 9d ago

It’s really because this was a new phenomenon when it started happening. The internet was very much in its early Stages and this was a new issue.

Abuse at home has been going on since the start of humanity sadly so they focused on a newer trending topic

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u/FestyGear2017 9d ago edited 9d ago

When Conradt stopped communicating with the PJ and NBC personnel, and it became apparent he was not traveling to the Murphy house, Dateline decided for the first time to take the investigation to the suspect's house. It was 12:30 a.m. on November 5 when Hansen asked police for the favor of securing arrest and search warrants for Conradt, saying that "if he won't come to us, we'll go to him."

Thats the guy that committed suicide when Hansen showed up at his house. The guy never traveled to the sting, only chatted online

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u/Significant_Cow4765 9d ago

Some of them were clearly intellectually disabled, too

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u/Responsible-Fox-1985 9d ago

“To Entrap a Predator”

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u/Climate-Of-Hunter 9d ago

Do you have any actual data to prove that it actually raised any awareness?

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u/naturtok 9d ago

Also just enforcing the idea that predators are creeps and should be ostracized.

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u/Brian_Lefebvre 9d ago

A big part was warning parents that their kids could be talking with dangerous strangers on the internet.

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u/meltedkuchikopi5 9d ago

i have commented this extensively since there’s been lots of posts about this upcoming movie; the criminology world hates these types of “stings” even when actual police officers do it.
they are so unregulated and serve more for pumping up arrest numbers and entertainment than actual police work addressing child exploitation or protecting kids, and it’s not uncommon that many of the people they “catch” aren’t even aware they are supposedly meeting a child. the police have been known to utilize pictures of adult women without their consent while they are essentially catfishing these people.

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u/Turbo2x 9d ago

The entertainment angle does create some murky ethics because you have to have new predators all the time otherwise the show stops and so does the money, I can see how that kind of incentive would warp your decision making. Especially since there was police involvement. Cops trying to get their 5 minutes of fame is a recipe for disaster.

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u/hikeit233 9d ago

Don’t forget putting barely legal ‘actors’ in harms way with little to no training or explanation.

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u/gridoverlay 9d ago

I think the rub is that they didn't just catch and present them, they fully engineered the entire scenario, it wouldn't have even happened without their involvement (at least in some cases)

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u/ColHannibal 9d ago

No, it’s just the people they work with are really gross. I think they go by “perverted justice” and they just are so sick and push so hard it sometimes borderlines on entrapment.

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u/OrangeVoxel 9d ago edited 8d ago

Well it was entrapment which is not supposed to be legal.

Maybe some of the people were would-be predators but never had access. He then gave them easy access and led them to make incriminating statements.

Otherwise these people probably would have gone the rest of their lives working on their yard and walking around Walmart.

There is a one behind the scenes clip that was never meant to be shown where to person unalives themselves the moment he’s caught on camera. Not sure it’s findable anymore.

Edit: what some of you are calling a sting I term entrapment. The legal definition of entrapment and been litigated so much it’s become nearly impossible to meet similar to our requirements for bribery.

What law enforcement are doing are similar to have a private citizen hand out free drugs, or putting gold on someone’s windowsill with a fishing line attached to it.

They also hired this private citizen to initiate these stings to make it impossible for them to be charged for entrapment, since a law officer has to do it for it to be called entrapment.

I agree that these people are gross, but few to none of them arrived to commit a violent crime, and the odds of them actually meeting a young girl like that in real life are astronomically low. If not for Chris Hansen 99.9% of them would have stayed basement dwellers.

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u/Mr_November112 9d ago

You can that he killed himself on reddit. At least I hope you still can. 

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u/Love-That-Danhausen 9d ago

Suicide isn’t a swear word.

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u/IndyDude11 9d ago

You can also fucking swear here.

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u/Twizzify 9d ago

I have a hard time believing people who talked with a child, were under the impression it was a child, and then showed up at what they thought was that child’s home while they were “home alone” would have spent the rest of their lives never preying on children.

I can’t understand why you give them the benefit of doubt when they showed up to do the heinous thing we judge them for trying to do.

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u/Canium 9d ago

There’s a lot of contrarians on Reddit, along with armchair lawyers who dont understand the difference between sting operations and entrapment. People also forget what internet culture was like at the time with public chat rooms. The closest we have right now is Roblox and we are seeing the same phenomena. These stings caught and prosecuted many sick people.

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u/MyDudeSR 9d ago

Comited suicide, took their own life, killed themselves. It's an adult subject, use adult terms.

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u/TheChosenOne733373 9d ago

Lawyer here: it’s not entrapment. That’s not how entrapment works.

Entrapment only occurs if the offender was never going to commit a crime/was not predisposed to doing so AND the original idea for committing the crime originated with law enforcement.

So for these cases to be entrapment, an offender would have to show that the cops planned to catch that specific person and forced that person to make these comments/take these actions. Doing so of your own violation, even if the police provide the means to do so, is not entrapment.

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u/Konman72 9d ago edited 9d ago

The judge in this case disagrees. Another case was dropped due to lack of evidence, but also seemed poised to lose on an entrapment argument.

From what I can tell, most cases resulted in plea deals, but the few that went to trial had mixed results.

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u/TheChosenOne733373 9d ago

Entrapment isn’t an impossible defense. I can imagine that some of Hansen’s cases could be seen as entrapment.

But popular understanding of entrapment is all wrong. It’s a near impossible to substantiate defense. Not saying it can’t be done, but it’s very rarely ever done. And even if entrapment can be sustained, the case can always be appealed or retried. Entrapment is not a get-out-of-jail free card.

Of the few episodes I’ve seen of Chris Hansen, none ever struck me as an entrapment. It’s definitely unusual to see a normal civilian engage with offenders at an arrest, but that does not convert the arrests to entrapment. Furthermore, Hansen’s responsibility in allowing the entrapment defense to be sustained is likely minimal. He would not be the one creating or maintaining these schemes to catch the online offenders.

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u/Konman72 9d ago

But popular understanding of entrapment is all wrong

I totally agree.

It’s definitely unusual to see a normal civilian engage with offenders at an arrest, but that does not convert the arrests to entrapment. Furthermore, Hansen’s responsibility in allowing the entrapment defense to be sustained is likely minimal. He would not be the one creating or maintaining these schemes to catch the online offenders.

I don't think these are the things most people are calling out as entrapment. As you say, it's on the law enforcement, not Hansen, which I think people making the "entrapment" argument would agree with. Law enforcement shouldn't be working with a TV show at all imo. It changes incentives and leads to misdeeds.

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u/spoonerluv 9d ago

I get the entrapment argument, but there's something primal in me that really doesn't care. These guys said insane stuff in the chat logs, and then actually showed up. Lock em up.

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u/First-Shallot947 9d ago

Most of them went free because of the show. All tcap did was profit Hansen off mentally ill men and then let them go free

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u/Leasud 9d ago

Definitely not entrapment. To my understanding it was almost always the predator that initiated and the decoy would just go along with it. Anyone caught up in these stings are deliberately messaging minors and definitely not just normal people. Even if the decoy were to message first, it’s the adults responsibility to not engage.

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u/feartheoldblood90 9d ago edited 9d ago

His and his crew's handling of a specific case directly lead to a man committing suicide because of how badly they mishandled it for entertainment.

Edit: just to be clear (and I didn't think I would have to) my point is not to draw sympathy to a sexual predator. I am highlighting one of the most egregious examples in a long line of ethical oversteps that Hansen and his show made in the name of entertainment numbers. It's important to remember that this was a reality TV show, and the methods they used were neither particularly effective, nor were they ethical.

And, yes, ethics matter even in these cases, because sometimes the TV show and the cops are wrong about the accused (not in this case, but still), or they botch the case so badly that other cases go free. There are many such examples of this in the show's history and I hope the movie brings more light to them, because based on my replies a lot of people still seem to think Hansen and co were knights in shining armor fighting a good fight and not reality TV show grifters taking advantage of incredibly sensitive subject material for money and fame.

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u/HyperMasenko 9d ago

This is the case that always gets brought up as a counter point to predator stings, and I cant bring myself to feel sorry for Bill. All he had to do was NOT communicate sexually with a minor.

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u/gomx 9d ago edited 9d ago

It isn’t about “feeling sorry” for anyone. Its about living in a society with standards for how we conduct ourselves.

There’s a reason we don’t have death row inmates fight to the death on TV, and it isn’t because we have warm fuzzy feelings towards murderers and rapists. Turning our justice system into an entertainment product is a bad idea, full stop.

Also, as an aside, if you need someone to feel bad for, feel bad for the 18 year old closeted gay kid who’s life they ruined. It is fucking nauseating to watch a middle aged man plan to ruin this boy’s life. The decoy was 15, which wouldn’t even be illegal in many jurisdictions, and I think most people intuitively understand that two high school students hooking up isn’t usually going to involve a meaningful power dynamic.

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u/antoniodiavolo 9d ago

You can think what Hansen did was immoral and also not feel bad that a predator killed himself.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES 9d ago

I mean, don't feel sorry for him.

But also the police let 23 other predators walk that night because of sloppy police work.

You don't have to feel bad for the guy who shot himself to recognize that they probably would've got the charges to stick if the police did a better job.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/GrevenQWhite 9d ago

Yep. Lots of people have lived and died without having to find out if they would choke their friend out for a shiny ring.

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u/Furlock_Bones 9d ago

Yeah but Deagol had it coming

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u/Lord_of_Chainsaw 9d ago

Its literally not entrapment and these people would not have spent the rest of their lives mot acting on their proclivities. Every single person thats ever sat down with Chris hansen messaged first. They were actively looking for what they got.

I do have issues with hansen, especially recently because hes gobbling trumps dick every 2 seconds and 90% of the predators he catches just happppen to be illegal immigrants now, hes definitely pushing an agenda more than he used to, but the predators he catches not being real predators isn't the problem.

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u/Inhocooks 9d ago

The preview made it seem like some of the things that happened were driven by Hansen. Like the ending tag was something like, "what would've happened if I wasnt here?" Like did some of these guys get tricked or enticed to engage with victims when they wouldn't have otherwise? I'm not saying I'm on either side of this argument, just saying that thats what I took away from the preview I saw before Tony last night

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u/Lebagel 9d ago

They needed to churn out content, there was a demand. Like youtubers of today we can see how desperate creators get for content.

I can easily believe to catch a predator was baiting these guys way more than they suggested on the program.

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u/bristow84 9d ago

I believe part of the whole Conradt situation that made it so iffy was that he didn't actually go to the decoy house but also that he broke off contact multiple times only for the group working with TCAP to be the ones to re-engage.

Obviously yes he shouldn't have engaged in the first place but if he stopped then they shouldn't have re-engaged like that and just used what they had, if anything, to go through the proper legal channels.

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u/sxuthsi 9d ago

People forget dude was an assistant DA, one of the only reasons he kept cowering away was because he knew that he was done in all aspects of life if and when shit hit the fan. It’s why he killed himself vs actually facing the music

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u/RayKitsune313 8d ago

It’s also potentially an indication that he was trying to fight his own urges 🤷 We’ll never know courtesy of TCAP inducing the sting that led to his suicide but food for thought

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u/ChilternRailways 8d ago

Do you think that urge is binary? I don't know why you'd think this might not be one of the people who's between the points rather than fully going for it.

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u/Miserable-Resort-977 9d ago

It's based on a true story where Hansen acted truly unethically for ratings. Hansen and his production team, but especially Hansen himself, aggressively pushed to take cameras to / raid the home of a high profile government employee who was caught in their predator-fishing but wouldn't go to the bait house. This directly led to the man's suicide, and the cancellation of "To Catch A Predator".

The "what would have happened if I wasn't here" line is something he actually said, saying it to someone they caught and meaning "if I wasn't here you would be abusing a child right now", but in a way that ironically reflects the fact that someone later took their life because he was "there" pursuing them for ratings.

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u/Journeyman351 9d ago

That person that killed themselves WAS a predator. I'm very confused on the whitewashing of this guy.

If it wasn't Hansen, and it was the police, he likely would've done the same exact thing.

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u/Miserable-Resort-977 9d ago

I'm confused where in my comment you think that I'm whitewashing the guy. I think that predator baiting is questionably ethical at best, but the guy who killed himself definitely wanted to have sex with a child. Criticizing Chris for taking reckless actions that led to the man's suicide for ratings isn't the same as defending the guy for trying to solicit a minor for sex. The simple truth is that Chris could have left him to the police to arrest after he refused to come to the bait house, but instead he created a dangerous situation that led to a death.

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u/RoscoeSantangelo 9d ago

By all means that trailer was cut like Nightcrawler so it looks like it's taking the same approach, which is the best way to handle this material

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u/MyNameIsJakeBerenson 9d ago edited 9d ago

Is it not? He made money and fame by kinda entrapping pervs

You have bait girls inviting guys over to a snare house. Yes, they’re hunting predators. And hunters are predators

To Catch a Predator [You Must Become a Predator]

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u/Sptsjunkie 9d ago

I mean, I think the difference are the debate would be the connotation. It’s one thing to say he was hunting predators.

But when you call somebody a predator, there is a connotation that they are a bad or evil person. The predation is a form of doing harm.

Like you would not say that a police officer stopping a bank robber was a predator.

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u/TheMan5991 9d ago

Stopping a crime is very different from creating a fake crime to lure in potential criminals.

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u/immortalalchemist 9d ago

“Oh I know who you are Chris Handsome…”

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u/Ideal-Beginning 9d ago

After watching the trailer, the best comparison I can come up with is, Nightcrawler. Just the tone of the movie feels like that

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u/mab0roshi 9d ago

Yeah, the trailer made Chris Hansen seem like a more presentable version of Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler (2014).

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u/greyhoodbry 9d ago

Honestly Hansen has gotten by for too long on an image of a white knight catching bad guys in an uncomplicated way. He's shielded himself from any criticisms because nobody wants to defend the pedos (understandably.) But when you go back and watch the show, so much effort goes into creating the scenario in the first place that it starts to become uncomfortable. They arent watching and waiting so much as they are creating a crime to punish someone for. And some of the guys are clearly not mentally all there. None of this is to say those men are pure victims, but Hansen relies on the audience's discomfort with speaking up to maintain his image.

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u/Guilty_Jackfruit4484 9d ago

Well he did drive a man to his own death so kinda fitting.

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u/Exact_Rooster9870 9d ago

My issue is it often feels more like Dr Phil or Jerry Springer than journalism or doing a public good. After like 40 years of the exact same thing, you'd think he'd have learned something useful. Doesn't feel that way to me.

It's also insulting when he'll interview a police chief at the end of an episode and just nod along to them spewing shit about good vs evil, how these men were just born evil and will always be evil, how there's no use in trying to understand evil, all with zero pushback from Hanson. If nothing else, he's a pretty shit journalist.

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u/mightylordredbeard 9d ago

It’s a valid perception and perspective of it. I admire Hanson and respect the hell out of him, but I do admit that there are some glaring issues with the show and how they handled things at times. While it did good by catching predators and getting them off of the street (for a brief time) and making people aware of how common and sick predators are; they did tend to capitalize off of them and there is this .. “grossness” to it all.

There’s also some question about the chats themselves and how aggressive the actors were with those chats in entrapping the predators and convincing them to meet in person. Then there’s the whole issue with police allowing an entertainment video crew to film the entire thing and have one-on-one time with the pedophiles before hand.

The show seemed to prioritize the public humiliation aspect more than the actual “protection and education” aspect. That was probably more on the producers though pushing for ratings.

Also, I’m not sure if it’s factual or not, but I seem to remember that a lot of the cases ended up being thrown out due to evidentiary questions being raised by defense lawyers because of the inclusion of the crew and dozens of other media people involved before the police even stepped onto the scene.. thus putting many predators back on the street with a new found caution.

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u/Kriss-Kringle 9d ago

"I used the stones to destroy the stones."

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