A new ABC comedy skewering social media fame has accidentally gone viral, thanks to a Twitter user who apparently mistook a car crash in the series’ debut episode for a real-life accident.
[jwplayer 2TT8ymo7]
Content, starring Get Krack’n gun Charlotte Nicdao, follows recent uni graduate Lucy and her very relatable neuroses. Notably, the show is presented from the viewpoint of Lucy’s phone, giving audiences a unique perspective on her day-to-day grind.
Lucy’s life is literally turned upside down when she crashes her car in the middle of her live stream. Without giving too much away, phone camera footage of the accident makes Lucy a viral celebrity. Hijinks ensue.
The episode premiered on ABC’s YouTube channel yesterday. Daley Pearson, co-founder of the Content‘s production studio Ludo, promoted the full episode on Reddit shortly after.
The situation became murkier from there. Around the same time as Pearson was showing off his work, user /u/HalpTheFan shared a gif of the crash scene in the /r/Unexpected and /r/WellThatSucks subreddits, each time presenting the clip as if it were a real incident.
Twitter user @ArsonArtist did the same this morning, posting the footage with the caption “Don’t stream and drive, thot”. In the hours since their upload, the Twitter clip has garnered roughly half a million views – more than one hundred times the amount the full episode has garnered on YouTube.
https://twitter.com/ArsonArtist/status/1169304559128317953
While many commenters identified the clip as a piece of showbiz magic, many others bought it. Some even criticised the very, very fictional Lucy for her inattentive driving.
https://twitter.com/tiabbea/status/1169374603761868800
https://twitter.com/FujiwaraArmbar/status/1169312428586405889
@TwitchSupport @Twitch So i heard you guys dont ban driving streamers anymore . You going to wait until some one actually dies?
— Daon (@dedaon) September 4, 2019
One user even put their own musical spin on the clip.
IM SORRY BUT…. I HAD TO pic.twitter.com/tZ3aeLbdGV
— ༒ ␈ ༒ (@wankism) September 5, 2019
It wasn’t until this afternoon that @ArsonArtist learned the source of the footage, thanks to another Twitter user who said Pearson was responsible.
https://twitter.com/ArsonArtist/status/1169458530086260736
Nicdao herself has now cottoned on to the clip’s IRL virality, bringing this intensely ironic saga full circle.
DAISY IM VIRAL #flipgirl https://t.co/XpgqFC5g5y
— Charlotte Nicdao (@charlottenicdao) September 5, 2019
The second episode of Content will appear on ABC’s official YouTube channel and iView on September 11, but it seems the series has already proven a point about the insanity of Online.
If this story hasn’t proven too weirdly meta for you, feel free to watch episode one below:
