CHOKOLOSKEE, Fla. (WFLA) — A recent viral video out of Florida has caused a boat captain’s life to become a complete “nightmare” due to a case of mistaken identity.
Capt. Brock Wagner told NBC affiliate WBBH his business has taken a hit, and he’s even had to send his wife away for her own safety, after being wrongly accused of appearing in the video.
“Because we had the first name, people somehow assumed that I was the culprit… It has been completely a nightmare,” Wagner said.
He shares a first name and similar boat to Capt. Brock Horner, but said the similarities stop there. Wagner is nearly 20 years older and lives 100 miles away in the Chokoloskee area.
In the video, which has been widely shared across the internet, Horner can be seen yelling and cursing at fisherman Gage Towles before climbing onto his boat.
Over a million people have watched the video since Towles shared it on his social media pages, and Wagner said much of the hate has been pouring into his own inbox.
“We’ve been getting an awful lot of nasty, threatening emails, text messages, phone calls… I don’t know, 80? Yeah. Maybe more, I don’t know,” Wagner told WBBH.
The fallout has also affected the website for his business, which offers fishing and sightseeing excursions, with many people taking to the review section to leave bad comments.
“We got a PR nightmare,” Wagner said. “You know, what are we going to do? And at first, we were just kind of in shock.”
He’s since posted a statement to his website and business’s social media pages explaining the mix-up, and says he hopes speaking out will allow his life to return to normal.
“I am a hard working family man and this is affecting my business and family,” the statement reads in part. “Unfortunately, we are also getting threats. Please help us to spread the word!”
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.