An Instagram video of a prank on the New York Subway has gone viral. It features two men wearing hazmat suits spilling fake coronavirus amongst the passengers.
The men in the video are 17-year-old David Flores and 19-year-old Morris Cordewell. On their Instagram, @morriscornbread, they often post videos of skits and other pranks.
In the video, along with their full hazmat suits, they can also be seen to carry a box holding orange liquid, labelled ‘Warning’.
To amp things up, they tell people on the subway that the box does contain a deadly virus, but that they shouldn’t worry. Even at one point, they confirm it is coronavirus.
Morris starts by just opening the lid, causing many passengers to move away from him, and audibly groan. Next, he ‘accidentally’ drops the box, and the liquid comes pouring out. All down the middle of the subway car it goes.
Some passengers run away from the spill, screaming. Others, clearly aware it’s a prank, sat, laughing.
Morris said that once they made it clear the spill was a prank, people laughed. No hard feelings.
Except, whilst some found the stunt funny, it seems the police did not.
Moscow Prank Gone Wrong
The virus has now killed over a thousand people in China, and in Moscow a man was arrested recently for a similar style prank. Footage emerged of a man on the metro in Moscow staggering about before collapsing, and seemingly experiencing a seizure.
The man was convicted for criminal hooliganism, which could land him with 5 years in jail. The man’s lawyer thinks it’s unlikely the charges will hold, but the whole event raises interesting questions.
Is it okay to joke about a virus that is killing so many people? Or is it just this generation’s way of dealing with difficult news? Are the jokes perpetuating negative messages towards Asian people?
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