YouTube Star VitalyzdTV Pranks World Cup Final, LeBron James Films It

Germany’s Mario Götze wasn’t the only standout star of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final. The attacking midfielder’s volley into the back of the net past Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero at the 113th minute gave Germany a 1 – 0 lead over Argentina and the FIFA World Cup Trophy some seven minutes later. But well before Super Mario and Germany shattered the hopes and dreams of 387 million or so South Americans, Russian American comedian Vitaly Zdorovetskiy (better known on YouTube as VitalyzdTV) had several seconds of fame.

Zdorovetskiy half-streaked onto the field during the second half of the football match with the words “Natural Born Prankster” scrawled across his belly and chest. He blew kisses to the crowd before and after trying to plant one on those kisses on the lips of Germany’s Benedikt Howedes. Evasive tactics extended Zdorovetskiy foray onto the pitch for a few moments, but security soon caught up with the YouTube star (who is currently in possession of more than 6.4 million subscribers) and forcibly removed him from the game.

ABC used evasive tactics, too. The broadcast network (not wanting to promote these kind of hijinks with television airtime) cut to images of Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer and other filler while Zdorovetskiy had his fun on the field. But fortunately for the attention-seeking prank artist, a platform with almost as much reach as ABC caught some of the incident on camera.

LeBron James was in attendance at the final, captured the tail end of Zdorovetskiy’s run, and uploaded the footage to his Instagram account. The clip currently has 332,000 likes, and counting.

The stunt most likely came as a surprise to the tens of thousands of attendees at Maracana Stadium. Of course, attentive followers of Zdorovetskiy’s Twitter account knew it was coming.

Congrats to Zdorovetskiy on his run and all the associated press. No doubt the newfound fame will have a positive impact on his upcoming prank movie.

Share
Published by
Joshua Cohen

Recent Posts

Whatnot says its new terms include “the lowest commission rates in the industry”

Whatnot just made a compelling offer to its community: The more they sell, the bigger their…

7 hours ago

MIPCOM 2026: a “convergence” point for every entertainment industry to talk vertical series, branded content, gen AI, and more

When more than 10,000 people arrive on the shores of the French Riviera for MIPCOM…

7 hours ago

Like Nastya is in the (mouse) house thanks to Disney development deal

Five years after becoming the first kid creator to reach 250 million subscribers on YouTube, Anastasiia…

7 hours ago

VidCon is leaving Anaheim to become a Cannes Lions offshoot

Since 2012, VidCon has been an (almost) annual summertime fixture at the Anaheim Convention Center in Orange County. But…

10 hours ago

Is a new ChatGPT plugin a sign that the how-to economy is shifting from YouTube to AI?

It just became a lot easier to create AI-assisted how-to videos. A new plugin available…

1 day ago