A New Yorker Hired Paparazzi In Times Square On Her 21st Birthday & The Video Is Iconic
Everyone actually thought she was a celebrity. 📸
The fake paparazzi hired. Right: The birthday girl and her friends posing in Times Square.
One of the most monumental birthdays for Americans is when you turn 21, officially becoming an adult... or, for one New Yorker, a "celebrity."
A woman named Alyssa hired fake paparazzi for her special day in the streets of Times Square to help her pretend she was famous, and so many people believed it.
A Manhattan-based photographer (@kiernanknightley) published the video to TikTok yesterday and already has 1.8 million views.
The clip shows the birthday girl's friends crowding around her as they swarm through the crowd of tourists, and the "paparazzi" start to follow her to take photos. It was not long before people began to notice and were asking who she was.
In fact, many started taking selfies and videos of her on their phone, without ever knowing her identity.
@kieranknightley Alyssa hired us to be the Paparazzi on her 21st Birthday 📸📸📸 Who’s next? #paparazzi #birthday #tiktokpaparazzi @actorjohntoon @ jeffwiles
If anyone was going to be the main character, it was going to be Alyssa and she played the part along with the actors hired. TikTok users on the app couldn't get enough of the idea and called it "iconic."
"Sorry, this is genius it’s gonna be the next big thing," someone commented.
Others say they want to do this so badly and are tagging their friends if they think it was a good idea, wishing they thought of it first.
One person even commented that she wants to do it and not even let her friends know what will happen.
It seems the group is taking more clients. In the caption of the video, the publishers wrote, "who's next?"
As far as a contact, the photographer linked to a YouTube account in his bio, though there is no official website.