Smash and grab

We’ve all felt like doing it — or so says Marseilles football fan Mohamed Henni. The Frenchman became a sensation on YouTube when his previously benign football review channel morphed into a portal for voyeuristic violence. Whenever Marseilles lose, Henni now attacks his TV with a baseball bat, golf club, his head, karate kicks — anything. He’s even thrown one into a river and jumped after it. He claims he’s only doing what the rest of us of thinking and he hopes his screen-smashing will create a cathartic effect for others. “The aim is to make people happy — it takes away their distress,” he told the BBC. “Everyone has had an urge to destroy a TV — people see themselves in me. I give real emotions and represent the real fan in front of their TV.” Henni used to give normal reviews of Marseilles games, but one day, he was so angry, he smashed the TV and — you guessed it — his views went up. He’s now had millions of views on his channel — presumably generating enough advertising revenue to allow him to buy a new TV every time Marseilles lose. Last week, he said he’d broken 26 TVs at around €400 a pop — for a rough total of $34,000.