Screenshot of video
Duane Cali, the TikToker who received (well-deserved) backlash for his McDonald’s run while allegedly having monkeypox, admitted to the whole thing being fake.
@auntkaren0 #duet with @Duane Cali #fyp #viral #monkeypox ♬ Choose Yourself – Duane Cali
He deleted a video showing makeup artists (MUAs) using their skills to make his skin appear as though he had monkeypox. However, another TikToker caught the entire video and posted it.
“What’s good, y’all,” Cali began in his video. “Just to let y’all know, the person who took my payment was absolutely fine. And, yeah, this was just a promo gone wrong.”
He continued, “I would’ve revealed this sooner, but I was just taking input left and right and didn’t know the hell to do. Just to give y’all a quick brief of what this was all about. I have unique and unconventional marketing methods when it comes to promoting my music. And I usually try to tie the marketing around a premise of the song.”
“This time, the song was called ‘Choose Yourself,’ so I was trying to market in a way where it displays a person choosing themself regardless of how other people feel about it. Unfortunately, it didn’t translate that way, and people just ended up getting mad at me.”
He then said that his fans didn’t get upset because they’re familiar with his marketing schemes, yet, because the video went viral, those on the outside go mad because they didn’t understand.
The influencer gave an example where he pretended that a local artist put a fake parking ticket on his car to promote his music.
Blavity reported that Cali did a three-part explanation, but those were deleted.
“Initially, I did it to promote a song,” he said. “But I kept it going on so long simply because y’all need to stop believing every little thing you see on the internet,” he began. “Now yeah, it may have looked like I had monkeypox, I’ll give you that. But who said I went through the drive-thru? Who said I used cash or card? Who said the McDonald’s employee touched my hand?”
He continued blaming the public for how they reacted and making it to where people who seek clout get it. He concluded by saying his music career has flourished a bit due to the monkeypox fiasco but also said he wouldn’t promote his music career with “sensitive content.”
As previously reported, Cali made a TikTok telling people he had monkeypox and didn’t have groceries in his house, causing him to go for a McDonald’s run, but many people got mad at him for being inconsiderate of other people’s health.