Nelk, stylized as NELK and also referred to as the NELK Boys, 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 university culture. The group's videos combine the two, usually consisting of a prank in addition to a considerable amount of drinking and partying. NELK is known for creating the brand "Full Send" and popularizing it as a slang term. The term 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, and "for the boys". Sebastiani has referred to the group's trademark words as "Canadian-influenced slang".
Members
NELK officially consists of,, and Steve Deleonardis. Bradley Martyn, Salim, and Cousin Jay are also supporting members that feature in the group's videos. Pat Sebastiani and other staff have also appeared 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, California, which they have referred to as the "FULLSEND House". This allows them to work together on content on an ad-hoc basis as opposed to meeting for specific filming times. According to a video on their channel, the house features 3 floors with a total of 8 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. 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". Following the tweet, Sebastiani received noticeably less screen time in the group's videos. Former members of the group include Lucas Gasparini and Jason Pagaduan. Gasparini left in 2017 because he was concerned that his involvement portrayed him in a bad light. 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. In 2018, when their video titled "Pretending to Work at the Google Headquarters" was removed along with issuance of a third strike, NELK privatized all of their videos until the strike was lifted to prevent their channel from being permanently deleted. In the meantime, they started uploading new content to their website, charging monthly and annual subscriptions to see their content. They eventually began once again uploading on YouTube and made most of their past videos available again, but many of their videos remain private to this day and can only be found on the group's website.
Legal issues
NELK has gotten into legal trouble on multiple occasions. 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 35 million views as of May 2020. In September 2017, Forgeard and Sebastiani were arrested and placed in jail overnight for a reason unknown the public. Months later they reported they had won their court case, but they never released the details of their case to the public. In January 2019, Sebastiani was arrested during a prank in which he walked into a bookstore 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 and found guilty of disorderly conduct in U.S. Court. In August 2019, NELK was denied entry to Russia following their "spin the globe challenge" due to Deleonardis's possession of a felony. In September 2019, NELK got in trouble with the Gardaí, Ireland's national law enforcement agency, for the fan meetup they had planned in a public park, because they had not notified the local police. The meetup got out of control, with large mobs of fans swarming the area in an unsafe manner, and this caused a significant police response to the scene, with the meetup being cut short. On May 14, 2020, Forgeard, Deleonardis, Salim, Cousin Jay, and four cameramen were arrested for disturbing the peace while filming a prank at a Target store in the state of Mississippi. They were later released by Jesse on bond.
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 a number of other celebrities.
