Two YouTubers have been issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting them from entering the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles following allegations that they pranked classes at the school.
According to USC’s Annenberg Media, Ernest “Eric” Kanevsky and Yuguo Bai disrupted a Holocaust lecture on March 29.
Bai pretended to be a student (in reality, neither man attends the school), and Kanevsky entered posing as a Russian mafia member.
He inquired as to whether Hugo Boss was present (Boss, a fashion designer, was a Nazi supporter and designed uniforms for the Nazis, according to the Guardian), and Bai claimed to be Boss.
Kanevsky asserted that Bai owed him money, and the two engaged in a verbal altercation in the front of the classroom, causing students to panic and flee.
Kanevsky and Bai were arrested by Los Angeles Police Department officers, and USC is now suing to keep them off campus and to recover damages and attorney fees.
The Daily Trojan reports that the men allegedly carried out two additional “panic-inducing takeovers” at USC last year, and Cal State Long Beach reported a similar incident in 2020.
“Against a national backdrop of active shooter concerns on college campuses, the defendants’ conduct has caused University students to experience emotional distress and genuine fear for their personal safety,” the school claims in its lawsuit.
According to the Los Angeles Daily News, a preliminary injunction against the men will be decided at an April 28 hearing.
