Vitaly Zdorovetskiy has apologized after he wrongfully accused a man of being a child predator on a livestream sting.
On Monday night, the streamer posted a statement online that he and his team “mistakenly portrayed Akash Singhania as a child predator in his live series, Catching Child Predators. This was a mistake that I deeply regret,” Vitaly wrote. “He never intended to meet a minor and has been cleared of all wrongdoing.”
Vitaly also apologized to Singhania and encouraged his followers to stop contacting him.
“To be clear, the work we do to expose predatory behavior is of the utmost importance, but in doing so, we cannot lose sight of the truth,” he wrote. “I have removed the video from all my accounts, and I ask that anyone who has saved it please do the same.”
“Though I never encourage anyone to attempt to contact any person in my videos, I ask that anyone who is attempting to contact Mr. Singhania cease at once,” Vitaly said. “This was a learning experience for my team and me, and we will ensure that we remain committed to the truth.”
Singhania responded to Vitaly’s apology, saying that the false accusation had severely affected his life.
“My world was turned upside down this weekend,” he wrote on X. “I was wrongfully portrayed as someone attempting to engage in inappropriate conduct. This accusation is completely false.”
“I have experienced harassment, judgment, and damage to my personal and professional relationships based on something that has now been proven false,” he added.
A clip from Catching Child Predators shows Vitaly and his team attempting to trap Singhania after he shows up in person to connect with a girl he met online, whom he thought was over 18. The trick, supposedly, is that the girl is supposed to tell him she’s actually a minor right before they meet, but it seems, in this case, that she never did that.
The video shows Singhania trying to prove that the girl never said she was a minor. It also appears that Vitaly’s Kick channel has been suspended following the incident.
