Peter Smith
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
A dive into the online history of a man arrested after what police have classified as a “hate incident” on an Ontario bus reveals a years-long career as a prolific streamer and internet troll.
Christopher Pretula, who goes by “Mr. Bum Tickler” online, is a 41-year-old Hamilton man and live streamer. Regularly appearing on YouTube in short video clips or long streams lasting over five hours, Pretula is facing charges of Assault and Utter Threat, according to the Hamilton Police Department.
“The incident is believed to have taken place on Monday, August 1, 2022, on an HSR bus, in the area of Gage Park at the Lawrence Road entrance,” police stated in a press release. “The content of the video shows a male making transphobic and homophobic slurs towards two people. The male also made threats towards the individuals and exited the bus at Gage Park on Lawrence Road.”
Video deleted from the Mr. Bum Tickler channel shows Pretula on a Hamilton city bus, on his way to attend a local festival – he had spent the previous few days streaming the event. Clips of the incident continue to circulate online and show the streamer engaging in a threatening and harassing exchange with fellow passengers.
“Is this your son or daughter? What is this fucking monstrosity I see before me,” he shouts at two young people seating in front of him, followed by a slew of other insults, including mockingly asking for their pronouns.
When he goes to depart the bus Pretula claims one of his victims kicks him, exploding in a flurry of threats and insults. As the incident escalates, a passenger off camera can be heard saying, “he’s kicking my children,” as the camera jerks.
Pretula twice holds his closed fist up to the face of the young person he accuses of kicking him.
Eventually, Pretula exits the bus, saying he will “kick [their] fucking head off.”
According to law enforcement, Hamilton’s Hate Crime Unit is investigating and an application will be made to classify the incident as a Hate Crime, “because of the perception the victims belong to an identified group.”
Police classify a hate crime as a criminal offence committed against a person or property which is motivated by prejudice based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or any other similar factor.
Footage of the incident went viral online and both local and national media note that Pretula’s YouTube channel is replete with content that includes other confrontations with people on the street. What most of the coverage is missing is Pretula’s position among IP2, a collective of live streamers who have built a dedicated community of trolls based around content that takes internet edge posting into the real world.
Sequels Are Always Worse
Unknown to most of the public, IP2 is a small but extremely engaged internet community dedicated to taking online trolling into the streets.The community is divided into content creators, and the fans who create memes, share clips, and generally encourage the streamer in their various exploits. Content creators often stream IRL (in real life) and have been known for harassment campaigns, using mace against both fellow streamers and their victims in public (mace became such a common feature on IP2 it's referred to as “content spray”), and using the Text-To-Speech function to allow donors to have their racist and offensive messages read out loud to the streamer and any nearby pedestrians.
Banned from a series of message boards, including Reddit and SayIt, reportedly for repeated complaints of harassment, the IP2 community has been a home for a number of notable racist internet streams, many who went on to enjoy more notoriety.
Former members of IP2’s roster include Anthime Joseph Gionet, better known as “Baked Alaska,” who recently pled guilty for his role in entering the Capitol Building on January 6. Tor Brookes, also known as Catboykami, a vile Australian streamer who among other things used services like Omegle to shout racial slurs at children for his audience also had a home with IP2.
Taking its name from an early “IRL” streamer, Paul Denino AKA Ice Poseiden, IP2 was formed as the often offensive streamer attempted to distance himself from part of his fan base – the same fans that called a bomb threat under his name to a flight Denino was on, resulting in him being swatted (a dangerous trolling practice of calling law enforcement with a fake emergency report, which leads to the target having armed police arrive at their house).
Though they often linked to and promoted his content, IP2 claims to have been formed in defiance of Denino’s later attempts to moderate and was created shortly after the streamer closed his own since-banned subreddit – though he would quickly reopen it at the time.
A cross-section of different individuals make up IP2’s current roster, including Pretula.
Threats, Racism, and Misogyny
Mr. Bum Tickler has never enjoyed a level of notoriety as some of the previous faces on IP2. After over three years of producing content on his current channel, Pretula’s most successful upload to date is a repost of a Finnish television interview with a young Bam Margera.
His own content, which does not appear to have ever reached beyond 5,000 views, is replete with Pretula’s live streaming from a variety of locations around Ontario – though most appear to be broadcast from a room in his residence in Hamilton.
Despite never achieving the level of infamy that would result in broader support, his previous work shows regular racist and hateful tirades against individuals and groups. On camera, he is often antagonistic and insulting to people he encounters - a type of provocation for content common with IP2 streamers.
Few are spared from his vitriol, including other IP2 streamers.
“Kick this mongoloid looking f****t n****r off the network,” he wrote about another IP2 streamer.
In one “IRL” incident, he began yelling from his bicycle at a man who parked a vehicle in the street. Threatening and insulting the driver, when the man begins to run towards Pretula he bikes away until he can call at him from a safe distance.
Despite this, in a video showing a street fight between a Black man and several others, Pretula assured other commenters “I would've killed that jogger … in minecraft of course” – “jogger” is a racist term referring to Black people referencing the killing of Ahmaud Arbery and is often used as a stand in for the n-slur.
Pretula’s content indicates that he brings in some money through donations via his streams, although how much is unclear. Another clip uploaded by him shows him on a train panicking to his audience that someone reported him to train staff. He tells his audience that his TTS (text-to-speech) has been turned off as a precaution before exiting the train.
Other comments on IP2 message boards show him claiming to be in a “mixed marriage,” yet another has him commenting “Eradicate Islam and all black men,” in response to a social media post relating to a racist email sent to all the Black students of a school.
Another comment from Pretula reads only that the “Christchurch massacre was funny AF.” In another instance, Pretula wrote, ““The Christchurch massacre in New Zealand was the best thing I ever witnessed in my life. How does it feel Muslims? Eradicate Islam by any means necessary.”
Pretula’s comments on IP2 spaces are also replete with misogyny. On an IP2 message board, he wrote, “Have some self respect and stop giving rape victims a platform.” In other messages, he wrote about carrying a knife everywhere he goes.
For his part, Pretula appears dedicated to creating content for the racist, misogynistic, and hateful IP2.
“Tired of the bullshit, me too. This old lurker of ip2 couldn't take it anymore and am doing irl. I'm Canadian, 41, a chad and ready to make content.”
We have reached out to Chris Pretula for comment and will update accordingly.
