The internet's favorite cryptid influencer, Chad the Vlogging Yeti, has found himself at the center of a political firestorm and an ongoing federal investigation after newly released Trump-era footage linked him directly to the death of Jeffrey Epstein.
Chad, who rose to TikTok stardom earlier this year with viral vlogging shorts such as “Yeti Morning Routine in 4K” and “Solo Hiking Tips (Don’t Die)”, quickly captured the hearts of millions. But his career took a sudden turn this week when the Trump administration declassified a trove of videos that tie the forest-dwelling content creator to one of the darkest scandals in recent memory.
The footage—initially posted without context to a Truth Social account labeled @RealSnowJobLeaks—shows Chad inside the now-infamous Manhattan jail, vlogging his own murder of Epstein.
In one especially jarring clip, Chad turns to camera, panting, and says,
“What’s up cryptid fam—today I’m helping silence a liability. Smash that like.”
Other videos released in the same batch show Chad and Epstein in various states of celebration and mild nudity, partying together in remote forests and upscale Manhattan clubs. In one clip, the two do karaoke to “My Way” by Frank Sinatra, while a disoriented Alan Dershowitz claps off-beat in the background.
But perhaps most disturbing is the unreleased footage—described in sealed Congressional testimony as “extremely high-resolution and morally catastrophic.” According to insiders, it depicts Chad aboard Epstein’s private jet, the Lolita Express, walking viewers through “the itinerary” while sipping what appears to be bone broth and discussing “partnership synergy.”
“So first we land, then we decompress, hit the grotto, get some blackmail footage, and by sundown we start the summit,” Chad says in the unreleased clip, allegedly labeled “island_intentions_FINAL2_FORREALTHISTIME.mp4”.
The public outcry has been swift, but not nearly as swift as the White House's handling of journalists asking inconvenient questions.
During a tense press briefing Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked why every piece of footage released bore a Pollo.AI watermark, a known synthetic media platform believed to specialize in deepfakes and “plausible deniability services.”
The journalist, Peter Swanson of The Scranton Gazette, was immediately dragged from the press room and “firmly disciplined,” according to a White House statement.
“Let this be a lesson to all so-called reporters,” Leavitt later clarified. “Pollo.AI is a known purveyor of truth enhancement, and if you don’t want to get ‘founding-fathered,’ you’ll watch your tone.”
When pressed for further comment, former President Donald Trump released a statement from his presidential NFT bunker in Bedminster:
“I never met the Yeti, but I respect his hustle. Also, he was a Democrat. Probably Antifa. We may never know.”
As bipartisan outrage simmers and social media trends like #YetiGate, #FreeTheFootage, and #ChadWasFramed take off, the nation finds itself torn between disbelief and grim curiosity.
For now, Chad the Vlogging Yeti has gone silent, his TikTok account wiped clean and his last known upload—“Reacting to My Top 5 Crimes (You Won’t Believe #3)”—vanished into encrypted oblivion.
Whether this signals the end of Chad’s influencer reign—or the beginning of something darker—remains to be seen.
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