ZeroDarkTony is live [ZeroDarkTony] / October 28, 2026 / YouTube / PoH1VY_fHo4
He also runs a “put a one in the chat” poll about Scott Hochstetter.
Anthony R. D’Amato, Jr., also known as ZeroDarkTony, used his October 28, 2026 YouTube livestream to say that cease-and-desist letters were going out to several people he did not name. He also claimed that Scott Hochstetter, known online as DOA, who streams on YouTube at @thelordofthegadflies, is charged with assault with a deadly weapon. And he argued that a critic’s repeated claims that D’Amato works for Scientology amount to a hate crime."He Has So Little Self-Control… He Had to Just Jump Right On"
D’Amato opened by saying he understood the letters had started to arrive. Later he said he had stayed quiet because one recipient would react on his own, and that the man did. Later still he ran a “put a one in the chat” poll about Hochstetter. The questions asked whether viewers remembered him harassing the elderly, “terrorizing women,” calling a woman who ran a neighborhood watch group for sexual-assault victims a “cunt,” or doxxing anyone. He framed it as “just asking questions,” and viewers answered with 1s. While talking about the letters, he paused when @jandapandatreasures963 posted a two-year membership milestone (“Here I am @ 2 years”): “thank you so much janda two years holy smoke.”Exhibit A
D’Amato tells his chat that “certain interested parties are beginning to receive cease and desist letters” and that “there should be some other individuals who will be getting said letters.” He then turns to claims about his past: “And do I have a past where I was on drugs? Yes. Are the things that were necessarily put down about me true? No.”Timestamps: 00:01:36 – 00:03:36 | Watch with a free account
D’Amato does not say who sent the letters or which case they relate to. He declines to say more about his past: “I don’t need to explain anything to anybody about anything about myself if I choose not to.”Exhibit B
Driving past police vehicles, D’Amato says “these cease and desist letters are going out to several interested parties.” He says he had stayed quiet because he knew a recipient “would be served with it,” and adds: “he has so little self-control he has so little discipline that he had to just jump right on.”Timestamps: 00:24:12 – 00:27:50 | Watch with a free account
D’Amato does not name the recipient or the sender. The claim that the man reacted for lack of “self-control” is D’Amato’s view.Exhibit C
D’Amato calls the claims that he slashed tires and swatted Hochstetter “very very slanderous and defamatory.” He does not say the name in this clip; by context he means Hochstetter, whom he named minutes earlier and who, D’Amato says elsewhere, keeps calling a police call a swatting. He then says: “I never called him a pdf. I’d like to see somebody pull up a clip where I called him a pdf.” He follows with “if you’re not one why you,” and stops there.Timestamps: 00:48:19 – 00:50:13 | Watch with a free account
The clip shows D’Amato denying the tire and swatting claims while hinting at the slur he says he never used. It does not show whether the tire or swatting claims are true.Exhibit D
D’Amato asks his chat a series of “put a one in the chat” questions about Hochstetter, whom he calls DOA. In his words: “put a one in the chat if you’ve ever seen DOA harass the elderly, put a one in the chat if you remember DOA terrorizing women… I mean, you know, I’m just asking questions here.” He goes on to ask about “calling a lady who ran a neighborhood watch group for SA victims a cunt” and “doxing anyone.”Timestamps: 01:08:34 – 01:11:19 | Watch with a free account
The claims inside the questions are D’Amato’s and are not verified. He shows no clip or document to support them in this segment.Exhibit E
D’Amato claims that Hochstetter “is being charged with assault with a deadly weapon” because of “said video,” and adds: “And I’m telling you, he’s very cavalier because he doesn’t remember… he doesn’t remember what he did.” He gives no case number or court.Timestamps: 01:32:58 – 01:34:53 | Watch with a free account
Court records Hero Not Zero holds show a pending felony case, People v. Hochstetter (Los Angeles Superior Court, 25CJCF01106-01, filed March 3, 2025). It includes one count of assault with a deadly weapon (Penal Code 245(a)(4)) and five counts of making criminal threats. A charge is an accusation, not a finding of guilt; a pretrial conference is set for December 1, 2026. The records do not say what evidence the charge rests on, so D’Amato’s claim that a video led to it is unverified.Exhibit F
D’Amato lays out his hate-crime theory: “And whether it’s his opinion or whether he is stating it as fact it’s a hate crime because he has targeted me over the course of a couple years because some dumbass told him that I’m a scientologist. Now it doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not… it is his reason for targeting me and that’s what he did and that’s what I’ll be able to prove and he has no fucking defense against it whatsoever.” He does not name the man in this clip; by context it is Hochstetter, whose claims that D’Amato is “OSA” he describes in the same clip and whom he names about two minutes later. D’Amato adds that he did not finish Scientology courses, that someone else bought them for him, and that he “didn’t see anything bad there.”Timestamps: 01:42:42 – 01:46:05 | Watch with a free account
Whether this would be a hate crime under the law is a legal question the stream does not answer. D’Amato named no case in which he has made the claim. As of this stream, D’Amato said letters were going out but named no filed case. Related: “You Have Been Served”: ZeroDarkTony Sent Hero Not Zero a Cease-and-Desist Letter. Its File Says ChatGPT Made It.Sources
- Original YouTube Video
- Full SRT Transcript: for HNZ Supporters
- Full Text Transcript: for HNZ Supporters
- Full Chat Transcript: for HNZ Supporters
- Date: 2026-10-28
- Stream ID: YOUTUBE · PoH1VY_fHo4
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