Bumfights

Bumfights is an independent video series originally created by Indecline Films which features vagrants fighting and attempting amateur stunts in exchange for money, alcohol, and other incentives. Homeless people were actually hurt in the making of these videos (most notably, Rufus Hannah, who later filed charges), and had no stunt doubles. The first video in this series was called Bumfights: Cause for Concern The film was produced by Ryan McPherson, Zachary Bubeck, Daniel J. Tanner, and Michael Slyman, and has been distributed mainly over the Internet. In 2003, Indecline sold the rights to another company.

The US-based National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has stated that Bumfight videos disseminate hate against the homeless and dehumanize them

In April 2006, the four filmmakers agreed to pay three men depicted in the videos and not to produce any more “Bumfights” videos or distribute videos already made, under a settlement announced as a lawsuit was to go to trial.

Bumfights 4: Return of Ruckus went on sale August 1, 2006. This installment in the series has a short running time and extremely little “bum” footage, instead relying on clips of suburban kids fighting and jumping off of things to fill time (much more so than previous installments).

Bumfights videos:

* Bumfights: Cause for Concern (2002)
* Bumfights 2: Bumlife (2003)
* Bumfights 3: The Felony Footage (2004)
* Bumfights 4:; Return Of Ruckus (2006)

Controversy

The videos have proven to be highly controversial. They have been banned in a number of countries including Great Britain, and most traditional retail outlets have refused their sale. The popular internet auction site eBay routinely cancels listings which contain copies of the video, citing their policy which prohibits the sale of materials which promote or glorify violence. In the state of California, both felony and misdemeanor charges were filed against the producers, as well as civil lawsuits; in 2005, the producers were sentenced to six months in prison for having failed to complete the community service to which they had previously been sentenced. The filmmakers maintain that the production of the video was a mutually beneficial arrangement and that the homeless people depicted freely chose to participate.

The films have likewise been blamed for inspiring a number of violent teenage attacks on the homeless, both in the United States and other countries.

In 2004, three teens from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, severely beat and killed a homeless man by the name of Rex Baum