" bro it was just a prank!"
pushes crates on his brother who gets wounded and could have killed someone
well damn
It's DARVO, applied to 'reading the room' basically.
If the idea/act is mostly cheered, the abuser is free to build upon it and escalate. Any disapproval will quickly be made the next target, having proven themselves in opposition to the abuser.
If the idea/act is mostly met with disapproval and consequences risk occurring "it was just a joke/prank": Since in this condition doubling-down would cause accountability, the crowd is clearly bad people for thinking what was said/done was said/done to begin with.
Those who disapprove are decried as lacking an open mind/humor or even irrationally hating the person so much that they disapprove of the idea/action
solely on the basis of whodunit "when in fact they would approve of it if it were anyone else".
Meanwhile, supporters of the act/action who were outnumbered know to gaslight any apathetics or fence-sitters about it "clearly"
(regardless of what was done and said) not having been meant the way opponents and victims took it.