Stokes Twins

Alan Chen Stokes and Alex Chen Stokes (born 23 November 1996 in China) are American-Chinese twins and Internet celebrities known for their YouTube and TikTok accounts with 19.9 million subscribers and 31.1 million followers respectively. They began making videos separately and then combined their following into a shared twins account.[2] As of 2022, their YouTube channel is the 9th largest in the world as measured by views per episode.[3]

Alan and Alex Chen Stokes
Alan (left) and Alex Stokes (right) in 2021
Personal information
Born (1996-11-23) 23 November 1996
China
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)YouTubers, TikTokers
YouTube information
Channels
Years active2017-present
Genre(s)Comedy, Vlog, Shorts
Subscribers22.3 million[1]
Total views4.62 billion[1]
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers
10,000,000 subscribers
Last updated: March 22, 2023

In August 2020, the Stokes Twins were charged with false imprisonment effected by violence, menace, fraud or deceit and falsely reporting an emergency in connection, or swatting with a YouTube video that they had recorded in October 2019.[4] The video contained two separate fake bank robberies as pranks, where the brothers pretended to be robbers; dressed all in black, wearing ski masks and carrying duffle bags,[5] and are attempting to make a getaway by asking unsuspecting people for clothing items or transportation help.[6]

At one instance, they called an Uber driver, who was not aware of the prank, and after the driver refused to drive them they attempted to coerce him. Numerous bystanders called police in both prank attempts and footage of the pair being stopped by officers were added to the video.[6] The Uber driver was held at gunpoint by responding officers until it was determined the driver was not involved, and the brothers were warned but not arrested and continued to film the video with a second prank four hours later at University of California, Irvine.[5]

The twins' attorneys have raised claims that the twins are not guilty of the charges as responding officers from the first prank reportedly gave suggestions for the video being filmed, and one brother reportedly called the Irvine Police Department's non-emergency line twice to tell them about the prank prior to the video being filmed. Their attorneys also raised concerns about the length of time between the video and the charges; ten months, and that the twins were not notified about the charges until after the department issued a press release about them.[7]

On April 1, 2021, the twins pleaded guilty in a plea bargain, and were sentenced to 160 hours community service and a year of probation.[8][9]

References
  1. "About Stokes Twins". YouTube.
  2. Whateley, Dan (9 June 2019). "A 'twinfluencer' with millions of followers says he's leaning into TikTok for brand sponsorships and getting 'low 5-figure deals'". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  3. "CyberSurf.io's 2022 YouTube Channel Rankings: The Most Viewed Channels on YouTube as Ranked by Views Per Episode". Archived from the original on November 17, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  4. KABC (2020-08-06). "Orange County twin YouTube stars facing possible prison time over phony bank robbery". ABC7 Los Angeles. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  5. "Twin YouTube stars charged after Uber driver held at gunpoint during fake bank robbery". KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com. 2020-08-08. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  6. Parker, Ryan (September 5, 2020). "YouTube Prank Stars Charged With Felony in Connection to Fake Bank Robberies | Hollywood Reporter". www.hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  7. Gauk-Roger, Topher (September 11, 2020). "Stokes Twins' lawyers say YouTube stars are not guilty of any crimes". CNN. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  8. "Stokes Twins: YouTubers plead guilty over fake bank robbery". BBC News. BBC. 1 April 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  9. "YouTube Pranksters Stokes Twins Plead Guilty to Staging Fake Bank Robberies". NDTV Gadgets 360. NDTV. Reuters. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
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