The social media influencer who sparked backlash after forcing a woman to jump into a lake in a cruel stunt has now been charged with assault in a separate incident.
The allegations came after Natalie Reynolds, 25, shot her partner Benny Mack with a paintball gun during a livestream event.
Reynolds and Mack, who contribute to the online platform Kick, participated in a multi-day scavenger hunt in Austin, Texas, on Friday.
The event was organized by another streamer who promised a $30,000 prize to those who filmed themselves completing a series of challenges.
The controversial internet personality could be seen confronting another group of streamers and firing a paintball, which hit Mack’s left arm.
Social media influencer Natalie Reynolds, 25, has sparked controversy again after firing a paintball gun at another live streamer.
Reynolds was accused of ‘assault’ by streamer Benny Mack, who tried to snatch her gun and pin her to the ground.
New Zealand-born Mack immediately accused Reynolds of assault. And he doesn’t wear glasses. That’s against Kick’s TOS (terms of service),’ he said.
The man then attempted to wrestle the gun away from her, pushing her to the ground in the process.
‘Don’t come at me with a gun, bitch! And yes, I disarmed you,’ Mack shouted.
“Dude, you’re fucking psycho,” Reynolds said as he stood up.
Reynolds later uploaded a clip of the incident to X, formerly Twitter, with the caption “crazy guy attacks me after getting shot with a paintball gun.”
The post has since been deleted.
The incident comes as Reynolds faced a firestorm of controversy over a previous stunt in which he directed another woman to jump into a lake, despite the woman claiming she couldn’t swim.
While participating in the scavenger hunt on May 29, the 25-year-old pretended to push the woman into the water before telling her, “You should jump in the water right now.”
The influencer previously sparked fury after ordering a woman to dive into an Austin, Texas, lake as part of a social media stunt.
After jumping into the water, the woman called the shore and said she didn’t know how to swim. Reynolds and his friends fled the scene.
The woman then lunged as Reynolds mocked her, turning to his camera crew and laughing. ‘Did you see her ass?’
“I don’t know how to swim, I can only float,” the woman shouted from the water.
“Stop, seriously, you’re actually scaring me,” Reynolds said. ‘I’m going to kill myself. He says she is drowning.
She and her friends fled, filming themselves the entire time from the back seat of a car. They returned only to record the moment a fire truck arrived at the scene.
The Austin Police Department responded to the incident, but a police report was not filed, according to a spokesperson. No charges were filed as of Friday.
Reynolds later claimed that the woman was “high” and was not actually drowning.
However, this display of insensitivity sparked the ire of netizens on the social media platform Reddit, where a clip of the live broadcast was re-uploaded.
‘Why wouldn’t they stay and help her? That’s absolutely horrible. “There is a special place in hell for people like this,” one user wrote.
‘These people focus on getting content and nothing else,’ another user commented.
‘That woman is not a human being for them. “She is supportive,” said another. “However, suddenly this ‘accessory’ starts asking for help and it’s like for the first time these morons realize they’ve endangered a real person’s life.”
“These people are focused on getting content and nothing else,” one Reddit user commented after the lake incident.
Reynolds came under fire for another stunt in December, where she painted a pair of leggings before heading to the gym.
The lake stunt wasn’t the first time Reynolds sparked fury, as netizens criticized her for painting on her gym clothes in December.
The streamer put on blue body paint over a pair of nude swimsuit bottoms and walked into a local gym.
A man quickly ordered her to leave, stating that her clothing choice, or lack thereof, was “not right.”
Reynolds later apologized on social media.
“I have made a serious and continuing error in my judgment and I do not expect to be forgiven,” she wrote. “I’m simply here to apologize.”
