A Blogger Who Pulled A Coronavirus Prank In The Subway Just Got Arrested And Faces 5 Years In Prison
RT — A prankster is facing up to five years in prison for causing panic on the Moscow underground. That’s the high price he may yet pay for an ill-conceived attempt to turn Chinese coronavirus hysteria into online likes.
A young man in a black tracksuit and a face mask was walking along the subway car on one of the busiest lines before suddenly collapsing on the floor and starting to convulse in agony. Several guys rushed to help the poor soul, but then quickly fled, shouting “Coronavirus! Coronavirus!”
The event had a strong effect on other passengers, who started rushing out of the car as soon as the train reached its station, creating a real risk of a stampede and injuries.
The whole scene was filmed on camera and turned out be a prank, staged by blogger Karomat Dzhaborov and his friends.
Listen, I LOVE a good prank video. There is nothing COOLER than pulling off sick pranks with your friends. Did you see the look on those peoples' faces when they thought they had just caught a super contagious and deadly disease from a man dying at their feet? Fucking CLASSIC. You know all those videos of people getting ripped out of their homes and forcefully quarantined, or dead bodies being piled up and dumped in the incinerators? That's gonna be THEM! Ha ha ha ha. PWN.
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And the retweets? The likes? The YouTube subscribers? Oh man. #CoronavirusForClout.
Here's the problem though — Blogger Karomat pulled this prank in the wrong country. Russia does not have a sense of humor about these kind of EPIC pranks. They term it a little something called "hooliganism" which, while a silly word, they take pretty seriously in the courts.
Law enforcement has said the pranksters had deliberately “provoked panic” on the subway and also suspected them of hooliganism, which is quite a serious offense, carrying a maximum punishment of five years in prison or major fines.
It's true what they say, comedy really is dying huh? You can't even make people think THEY are dying anymore, you can't make them stampede each other as they run for their lives out of a crowded subway. Cancel Culture catches up to everyone and now it's here for the pranksters.
Even the well-meaning ones. I mean I don't know about you but I totally believe this blogger's defense that he had only the best intentions trying to raise awareness for a serious issue.
The blogger’s lawyer said his client didn’t expect that the clip would lead to such harsh consequences. He claimed that Dzhaborov’s intentions were good when he staged his prank. “The aim was to attract public attention to the lack of face masks; to the problem of the coronavirus and the need for people to protect themselves with masks,” he explained.
He only wanted those likes and retweets because it meant his message was spreading far and wide. Didn't care about the clout or anything like that, just trying to do his duty as a good citizen.
And now he's forever branded a hooligan.
PS,
I'm just grateful to live in a country where we don't have to worry about these stupid millennial pranksters.