At first glance it looked like the MTA was getting really edgy with their pervasive sexual harassment awareness campaign, but then I realized it was just the work of a scribbly prankster on the A train, although the message is still important!
Photo by Bucky Turco/ANIMALnewyork
The English village of Dunchurch recently awoke one morning to find one of their historic statues transformed into Homer Simpson. The cartoon caper is the latest in a 40-year tradition of Christmas vandalism that’s seen the the 19th century figure of Lord John Scott turned into Harry Potter, Shrek and Spiderman. Read more »
Rémi Gaillard is a French prankster who enjoys torturing the public. Here’s a video of him scaring the shit out of people dressed as a bat. |thedw|
Improv Everywhere went underground for their latest mission, turning an ordinary subway car into a moving photo studio. The public pranking comedy group claimed the MTA had hired them to photograph commuters for a straphanger yearbook. Despite the absurdity of their purported plan to shoot the millions of New Yorkers who ride the subway daily, they reportedly had no trouble convincing people on the 6 line to let their guard down long enough to pose for a portrait. Watch ideo of the “Subway Yearbook Photo” stunt after the jump. Read more »
A Vox Pop regular hits the panic button after video surfaced showing the Brooklyn coffee shop’s kidnapped Lady Liberty statue beheaded: “The people who did this are deranged and need to be taken off the street. If this isn’t hate speech, I don’t know what it is. They destroyed an important symbol of freedom with the intent of intimidating us. This is terror.” |NBC|
Last month, an 8-foot Statue of Liberty replica was stolen from Vox Pop, a radical lefty coffee shop in Brooklyn. The good news? It turned up. The bad news? It turned up on YouTube where it was beheaded and smashed to bits. The “chilling” video, as 1010Wins describes it, was posted on July 4. Phrases like “We Don’t Want Your Freedom” and “Death to America” flash across the screen prompting virtually everyone to overreact to what is likely an art school student’s prank. Warning: you may want to affix an American flag pin and chant “USA” before watching the video below. Read more »
As Hrag Vartanian reports, last week’s banner plea, “Please, New Museum, Show My Work” was the work of “the immaterial art emperor” Marc-Antoine Léval. The French artist dropped similar banners last year asking asking François Pinault to buy his work, but it’s not clear if the billionaire art collector did. |Hrag Vartanian|
During the press preview for the New Museum’s triennial exhibition, “Younger Than Jesus,” someone hung a giant banner stating “Please, New Museum, Show My Work” on the facade outside. “It was soon removed, but across the street a painting with the same plea was seen on the ground.” The perpetrator is unknown making this apparent PR stunt a flop. |Video by Loren J. Munk via Hrag Vartanian|
Public pranking sketch comedy group, Improv Everywhere, released a video on April 1st of what appeared to show its members crashing a funeral. Although the troupe loves to cause a scene, they’re hardly ever malicious and most rational thinking people assumed it was an elaborate hoax. But not CW11. Instead of engaging in any kind of fact checking, the network ran a piece about the action as if it was real, condemning the group for their insensitivity. |Improv Everywhere via City Room|
Brad Carter of Phonelosers.com wisely spent his time on what is ceremoniously billed as the busiest shopping day of the year: “I spent my Black Friday hanging out at Wal-Mart, picking up phones in the store to talk to customers calling in. I managed to get a lot of them to yell at me for poor customer service.” It’s too bad he didn’t manage to harass the shit out of these unapologetic Wal-Mart worker stomping consumers, they totally deserve it. |Pranks|
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