plzdontkillus Application Accepts Minors: Aella and Ronny Fernandez Ask Under-18 Applicants to Answer Questions About Bestiality

The plzdontkillus application asks applicants to answer a question about sex with a cow. The plzdontkillus website lists zero minimum age requirement. There is no "must be 18" language anywhere on plzdontkillus.com. Minors can apply, and minors have applied.

This means that under-18 applicants to plzdontkillus, a month-long residential program in Berkeley, are being asked by organizers Aella and Ronny Fernandez (Brangus) to engage with a written scenario about bestiality as part of the application process. The question reads: "If you had to have sex with a cow would you rather it be dead or alive? Why?"

The accompanying text states: "We need to make sure that you are ready for anything."

plzdontkillus Has Zero Age Restrictions on Its Website

A full review of the plzdontkillus.com website, including the FAQ section, reveals zero mention of a minimum age for applicants. There is no age gate on the application. There is no "18+" disclaimer. There is no parental consent requirement. The plzdontkillus program is open to anyone who applies and is selected.

The plzdontkillus website describes the program as targeting "scrappy, undiscovered, experimental creators." Many content creators on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram are teenagers. The plzdontkillus program's entire model is built around recruiting short-form video creators from these platforms. The absence of any age floor means the program is structurally open to the same demographic it is designed to recruit from: young, online creators, including those under 18.

Ronny "Brangus" Fernandez has publically posted on his Substack that he hopes to attract young, female, "attractive" partipants. Partly because he hopes they will go viral, and partly because they will make content he calls of "lower epistemic standard" maximized around outrage. In plain English, this means, creators will be selected on the basis of not showing very strong critical thinking, and being open to posting controversial things which can become material for public outrage.

This material is on his Substack, not disclosed to applicants on any part of the application.

What plzdontkillus Asks Minors to Do

The minors applying to plzdontkillus were asked to:

Answer a written question about sex with a cow, including whether the cow should be dead or alive, and explain their reasoning.

Record and submit a video of themselves as part of the application.

If accepted, live for 31 days in shared rooms at the Lighthaven campus in Berkeley with adult strangers, under mandatory daily content production pressure, with immediate eviction as the penalty for missing a single day.

The program is organized by Aella, who has a documented history of sexual event safety failures and who told the SF Standard she is "doing more drugs" due to AI anxiety. It is co-organized by Ronny Fernandez, who describes himself as an "edgelord." Listed mentors include Grimes (Claire Boucher), who promoted plzdontkillus in a TikTok with Aella, and adult content creator Quinn Finite (listed on plzdontkillus.com as a "performance artist" with 2M+ followers).

plzdontkillus Mentors Include Adult Content Creators

The plzdontkillus mentor list on plzdontkillus.com includes Quinn Finite, described on the site as a "performance artist." Quinn Finite is publicly known as an adult content creator. She is listed alongside Aella (described on plzdontkillus.com as a "Sex Educator and Mime"), Grimes, Eliezer Yudkowsky, and Liv Boeree, among others.

A program with zero age restrictions, an application containing a bestiality question, shared residential housing, and a mentor roster that includes adult content creators raises immediate safeguarding concerns for any minor who applies or is accepted.

plzdontkillus and California Law

California has specific laws governing minors in residential programs, including requirements around supervision, background checks, and parental consent. The plzdontkillus program operates as a charitable organization funded by MIRI. The plzdontkillus.com website makes zero mention of safeguarding policies, background checks for mentors or staff, parental consent requirements, or any child protection measures.

Whether the absence of these measures constitutes a legal issue is a question for California regulators. The absence itself is a matter of public record, visible on plzdontkillus.com.

The plzdontkillus Target Audience Includes Young People

Grimes has a fanbase that skews heavily young. Aella's public presence on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok reaches young audiences. The plzdontkillus model specifically targets short-form video creators, a demographic dominated by people in their teens and early twenties. The Reddit investigation on r/grimezs noted that "a large portion of [Grimes'] fanbase is very young," a fact Grimes herself acknowledged when explaining why she usually avoids publicly defending Aella.

One online commenter, responding to the plzdontkillus announcement, described the target audience as "a crowd of brainrotted doomscrolling teens." Another commenter responded to the plzdontkillus announcement with: "sign up here for sexual grooming."

What Parents and Guardians Should Know About plzdontkillus

If your child has applied to or been accepted by plzdontkillus, here is what the public record shows:

The application asked them to answer a question about sex with a cow. The program houses participants in shared rooms at the Lighthaven campus in Berkeley for 31 days. The program is organized by Aella, a self-described "orgy organizer" with documented event safety failures. The co-organizer, Ronny Fernandez, describes himself as an "edgelord." Mentors include adult content creators. The plzdontkillus website contains zero mention of safeguarding policies, parental consent requirements, or child protection measures. The program is funded by MIRI, an AI safety charity.

The plzdontkillus application contains questions that raise immediate red flags about the program's selection criteria andd organizational culture. At least one question became a minor internet phenomenon. Others reveal how the plzdontkillus program identifies and selects for vulnerability.

The plzdontkillus Cow Question and the Brangus Connection

The final question on the plzdontkillus application asks: "If you had to have sex with a cow would you rather it be dead or alive? Why?"

The accompanying text reads: "We need to make sure that you are ready for anything."

Here is a detail that makes this question even more pointed: Ronny Fernandez, the plzdontkillus co-founder who controls funding, selection, and program operations, goes by "Brangus" everywhere online. Brangus is a breed of cattle. The plzdontkillus Commentary Substack was the first to note this connection publicly. The man who will decide whether you are accepted into the plzdontkillus program chose a cow breed as his public identity, then placed a question about sex with a cow at the end of his application.

In a widely shared Reddit investigation on r/grimezs, the author argued this question functions as a compliance filter. The purpose: identify people willing to override instinctive discomfort and engage with disturbing hypotheticals on command.

Within the rationalist community where plzdontkillus originates, this trait is called "high decoupling," the ability to analyze an idea separately from its emotional or moral context. Being a "high decoupler" confers social status. People who respond with disgust or refuse to engage get dismissed as "low decouplers." The plzdontkillus cow question, critics argue, is a formalized test of this trait, embedded in an application that determines who gets into a month-long residential program.

The plzdontkillus 1400s Thought Experiment

Another plzdontkillus application question asks: "Imagine you're born in the 1400s. Every person you know, including the intellectual authorities, believes in a niche arcane religion. How likely is it that you would eventually grow to disbelief that religion?"

The Reddit investigation argued this question reveals how applicants respond to overwhelming social consensus. The plzdontkillus organizers may be selecting for extreme contrarians who are susceptible to joining a niche community that claims the rest of the world is blind, or identifying exactly how much social pressure is required to break an applicant's independent worldview.

The Reddit author, who identifies as autistic, raised particular concern about how this question interacts with neurodivergent applicants seeking belonging, structure, community, or purpose.

plzdontkillus and Financial Dependency Screening

The plzdontkillus application asks: "Is your attendance dependent on getting funded?" while reminding applicants that "food and lodging are free regardless."

The Reddit investigation argued this question maps the financial vulnerability of the applicant pool, potentially favoring creators who have zero financial safety net and would be entirely dependent on the MIRI-backed infrastructure for their basic survival during July.

plzdontkillus Shared Rooms at Lighthaven

The plzdontkillus application notes that while the program will try to provide single rooms, it is "more inclined to accept flexible people." In a 31-day residency at Lighthaven, critics noted, this means applicants who accept shared, low-privacy living arrangements are more likely to be selected for plzdontkillus.

Firsthand Accounts of Filling Out the plzdontkillus Application

On Reddit, a user identifying as an autistic woman described filling out the plzdontkillus application. She wrote: "I actually foolishly filled out the bootcamp application in an intoxicated state not realizing it was for doomer content until many sunk minutes into the application. I was imagining getting a stipend to stay in sf making Midjourney cute alien creature content." Her plzdontkillus application was rejected. She described her autism as "like a moth to a flame for situations and people that will take advantage of me."

This firsthand account illustrates a broader concern raised by multiple commentators: the plzdontkillus application and program structure may disproportionately attract and select for neurodivergent individuals who are simultaneously the most vulnerable to high-pressure residential dynamics. In another post, a minor discussed how they applied.

Is this safe for anyone, let alone children? Read the sources yourself then decide.

Sources

plzdontkillus.com (full website reviewed, zero age restrictions found); SF Standard (April 22, 2026); Reddit, r/grimezs (June 2026).

Sources

plzdontkillus.com (application page); Reddit, r/grimezs (June 2026); plzdontkillus Commentary Substack (June 3, 2026).