Another day, another reason to not trust the internet. Earlier today a viral video depicting a woman seeking revenge on her catcallers began doing the rounds, but now it is being reported that the footage was staged.
The video seemingly depicts a woman being catcalled by men in a van while cycling around the streets of London, with them asking if she’s “on her period” after she gesticulates at them for harassing her. One of the men can be seen touching her arm, before they drive away. However, the woman pursues them on her bicycle, eventually pulling up alongside them and tearing off one of their wing mirrors with impressive ferocity. The man recording the incident can be heard calling them “scum,” before he drives off on his motorbike.
The video attracted a ton of traction on Facebook and garnered over 300,000 views on YouTube, but all may not be as it seems. According to The Sun, eyewitness Scott Deane claims the incident was an elaborate publicity stunt orchestrated by the online viral content firm Jungle Creations.
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Speaking to the tabloid, the builder said: “I was across the road having a break and I saw this very attractive girl with a bike talking to a blonde guy who was giving her instructions. Then three guys dressed in orange site clothes turned up in a van and the blonde bloke was giving them instructions too.
“He was telling the girl: ‘You need to ride behind the van aggressively’.”
Scott went on to claim that the scene was rehearsed “two or three times” and that there was already damage to the wing mirror in order to make the woman’s seemingly spontaneous act of revenge easier to pull off. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw the video online,” Scott said.
The video has since been pulled from Jungle Creations’ Facebook following the allegation it was staged, though it remains available to view below:
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