A video that baffled and amused the internet on Tuesday showed two men facing off on a block in New York City, giving each other the middle finger in increasingly aggressive motions as they slowly walk in opposite directions. The bizarrely pure display of anger quickly went viral, but—like many things on the internet—it turned out to be fake.
The most intense fight I’ve ever seen pic.twitter.com/TCXXO98ijp
— a guy (@apiecebyguy) December 4, 2018
The video has over 5 million views and more than 150,000 likes. While many viewers thought it an authentic fight, the producer who originally uploaded it with the caption “the most intense fight I’ve ever seen” confirmed to the Daily Beast that it’s all staged.
“I made it with my friends,” Guy Blelloch told the news website.
According to Blelloch’s LinkedIn page, he’s the creative director for Jerry Media, an agency that developed from the Instagram meme account Fuck Jerry. Other videos Blelloch has uploaded seem to be staged attempts to garner the viral fame the face-off clip achieved. In one, he appears to “catch” someone placing a condom of a Citi Bike’s handlebars and in another, he smokes an old cigarette butt.
None captured the internet’s imagination as the aggressively non-violent display of two dudes going at it without laying a hand on each other. The viral video has already inspired several Twitter users to create their own versions. One added lasers every time they flip the bird, while another user thought light saber noises were a better fit.
Add lasers pic.twitter.com/QGDyZ8obAL
— Drop Toons (@DropToons) December 4, 2018
We thought this “fight” needed a little something more. pic.twitter.com/V7AzVAVpqC
— hockeyfights (@hockeyfights) December 4, 2018
Even if it is fake, at least Twitter had its fun—and that’s the most important thing of all.
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H/T the Daily Beast