TikTok User Slammed For "Despicable" Prank On Subway. Video Is Viral

A prankster with over 3 million followers on TikTok is in hot water for his latest 'joke' - one that involved dumping a crate full of milk and cereal on a New York City subway and leaving. Josh Popkin,known as @fckjoshy to his TikTok followers, is facing massive backlash for the prank that many described as "disrespectful" to New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees who had to clean up the mess after he left. The MTA also took to Twitter to slam the "despicable" prank, pointing out that it created extra work for essential workers who are working in the middle of a pandemic.

Mr Popkin, 23, shared two videos of the widely-denounced prank on his TikTok two days ago. While one has been pulled down, the other shows him dumping the huge container of cereal and milk on the train floor. The clip has collected over 3.3 million views on the video-sharing platform.

"Is this prank really necessary during a lockdown? and in a public space?" asked one TikTok user in the comments section. 

"This really isn't funny. It's just inconsiderate to the passengers and MTA workers who have sacrificed themselves going in to work as essential workers," another remarked. 

After the video was reposted on Twitter, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority responded to it with a sternly-worded tweet and called it "a new low".

A new low: Pulling a prank on essential workers in the middle of a global pandemic. And making essential workers clean up your mess. Despicable. https://t.co/hMu8g5cJY9

— MTA. Stay Home. Stop the Spread. (@MTA) May 13, 2020

The footage has collected another 5.8 million views on the microblogging platform, along with hundreds of comments criticising the TikTok user's prank.

Make him clean subways overnight for a month

— IKnowJoeyAppleby (@TheRealAppleby) May 13, 2020

He's clearly doing this for publicity. He's needs to be made an example of that pulling pranks during a pandemic & filming it is not OK! I'm so sick of people doing terrible things for publicity; so immature & dangerous ???????? @NYCMayor @NYGovCuomo @mta

— DJ Empress ® (@DjEmpressNyc) May 13, 2020

According to Insider, a representative from the New York Police Department's Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information said that it was "looking into" the matter.