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An American YouTuber is facing massive backlash online for the “racist” portrayal of the annual Gorehabba festival in Karnataka, in which local residents celebrate the end of Diwali by throwing cow dung at each other. Tyler Oliveira, 25, posted a video of the celebrations in Gumatapura village on October 23, with the caption: “Inside India’s Poop-Throwing Festival.” Oliveira, however, defended his decision to film the festival and said “it isn’t racist to film a poop-throwing festival”. He posted another video with the caption: “I Survived India’s Poop-Throwing Festival…” Watch the video here on X: I Survived India’s Poop-Throwing Festival… pic.twitter.com/1zW4QocArh— Tyler Oliveira (@tyleraloevera) October 25, 2025 In the first video, Oliveira is seen wearing a protective suit and goggles, as he wades through dung and is caught filming in the middle of a crowd splattered with it. In his other video, he is seen covered in dung and walking the streets barefoot with a bottle of water in hand, presumably after filming. “Spare me, so much sh*t,” he is heard saying in the video while filming before being hit twice by large chunks of dung. “I gotta get out of here,” he adds later. He posted a picture of himself covered in cow dung on X, saying: “Happy Diwali! Yes, I went to India’s poop throwing festival. It was the shittiest experience of my life. I will never go back. Please pray that I survive.” After the YouTuber posted the videos, he drew criticism for viewing the festival from a “racist” lens, especially a tradition dear to the people of the village. Gorehabba honours the village deity, Beereshwara Swamy, who is said to have been born from cow dung. Many internet users accused him of mocking the traditional festival, while others said it was shortsighted of him to overlook the religious aspect of the local ritual. Some said it was wrong of him to use a tradition of another country and portray it as strange to his western viewers, only for millions of views. One user wrote on X: “Why do you have to come to India and then record a video of a cow dung festival by going in the middle of the event and then cry like a loser! You shitty fellow. You can record poop in Western countries, plenty on streets of California. Human poop you can have record in your countries. Make videos.” Another user gave a lengthy explanation of what the festival means to the local residents of the village. “While the sensationalized title ‘India’s Poop-Throwing Festival’ might seem bizarre or shocking to outsiders, it’s actually a local community tradition called Gorehabbad Festival in a small village in South India. Villagers use sun-dried cow dung (not fresh poop!) for playful “battles” that symbolize unity, health, and warding off illness. It’s sun-dried manure, similar to how cow dung cakes are used across rural India as eco-friendly fuel for cooking, natural fertilizer for farms, or even in traditional medicines and rituals. Rooted in local folklore, it’s all about community bonding after Diwali,” the user said on X, adding that India has a “staggering diversity of cultures, languages, and traditions”. “…Let’s celebrate this diversity instead of sensationalizing it with clickbait titles. Respect cultural nuances!” Another user wrote: “It’s the internet negativity travels at the speed of light. His goal is profit, not truth. A glance at his channel shows a pattern: he spotlights the worst in every place U.S. drug abuse, Europe’s migrant issues, African gangs in Paris. His brand is misery tourism. Last time in India, he filmed a garbage dump to paint the whole nation that way. If not cow dung, he’ll find some other dirt to sell.” “You filmed what you couldn’t understand and called a whole country ‘filthy’? That’s not honesty, that’s your tiny brain on full display,” another user added.
