A Californian TikTok star Duane Cali has come under severe fire from fans on both Instagram and TikTok handles for faking monkey pox in order to promote his music career.
It is understood that the backlash started earlier this month after the singer was seen making a McDonald’s run while infected with visible monkeypox scars.
Cali faced backlash for the post and for allegedly going out in public while knowingly infected with the contagious virus. One user also noted that the singer’s actions were callous and insensitive and warrants punishment.
The singer however took to Instagram to inform viewers that the ‘monkey pox’ stunt was just a promo gone awry for his new music video.
The singer also added that the stunt was also as a result of him taking poor advice from those he calls his friends and warns others to be mindful of those around them.
“This was just a promo gone wrong, just to give you all a quick brief about what this was all about, I have unique and unconventional marketing methods when it comes to promoting my music.
“I just wanted to make this video to remind you to be careful who you f**k with, Because not everybody who you f**k with is gonna f***k with you.”
“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 added.
The TikTok star further noted that things posted on Social Media in most cases are used for entertainment and should not be taken out of context.
“Initially, I did it to promote a song, but I kept it going on so long simply because y’all need to stop believing every little thing you see on the internet.
“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?”
“I created the content. What your mind did with it is on you. I can’t control your assumptions,” he lamented.
