Did a widely-shared doorbell camera video show a little boy and his dad caught "ding-dong ditching"? No, that's not true: The people in the video were simply acting out a scripted scenario. The page that posted the sketch routinely publishes similar scripted "doorbell comedy", and is affiliated with a company that provides marketing and logistical support to digital "content creators".
The video was posted to TikTok on July 30, 2025 (archived here), with the caption "Ding dong ditching #childhood", and garnered more than 94 million views in five days.
The doorbell camera footage shows a boy standing outside a stranger's front door when the resident opens the door, and the boy apologizes and says "I was going to ding dong ditch you guys" -- that is, ring the doorbell and then run off.
The resident asks whether the boy's dad is aware of what he's doing, and the boy says "Yeah he does know", before the boy's father appears in the background, realizes that the resident is at the door, then shouts "Run!" before the father and son run away.
The video can be watched below:
@dereklipp_ Ding dong ditching #childhood ♬ original sound - Derek Lipp
This was not an authentic recording of a real incident, but rather a sketch posted by Derek Lipp, an online "content creator" from Michigan who frequently publishes similar, scripted videos which he describes as "doorbell comedy" (archived here):
(Image source: Screenshot of facebook.com/lipp.derek)
Lipp's TikTok account (archived here) is filled with such videos, as shown below:
(Image source: Screenshot of https://www.tiktok.com/@dereklipp_)
Finally, Lipp is affiliated with (archived here) Keli Network, a company that does business as Jellysmack (archived here) and provides marketing and logistical support (archived here) to several online "content creators".
