Duane Cali, a TikToker who also creates music, has come clean and revealed that he faked monkeypox for the sake of promo.

The story started earlier this month when the TikToker uploaded a video of himself sitting in his car after going on a “McDonald’s run,” as Blavity previously reported.

“What’s good, y’all? My bad, I’m not in the house. I had to go make a McDonald’s run ’cause I ain’t got no groceries. I ain’t got no food,” he says in the upload.

Understandably, Duane Cali swiftly began garnering backlash for seemingly putting the employees at risk by going to McDonalds in person, though this didn’t stop him from making another fast-food run and unapologetically doubling down on his decision to do so.

@duanecali Replying to @fyihutao I NEED PEACE I THINK ABOUT OTHERS ALLLLLL THE TIME BUT IF I NEED TO EAT IM GOING TO EAT. I DONT HAVE TO STAY IN THE HOUSE JUST CAUSE YALL WANT ME TO. IM HUMAN TOO. #chillout #itsnotthatserious #calmdown #getoverit #fyp #uk #africa #asia #discovery #leavemealone #monkeypox #😒 ♬ Choose Yourself – Duane Cali

However, the creator has now revealed that the entire monkeypox fiasco was nothing more than a hoax, as he had an MUA cover him in fake pockmarks.

“This was just a promo gone wrong,” he says in a video that was uploaded over the weekend. “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 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 also pointed out that his followers supposedly “didn’t get upset” because they’re familiar with his “marketing schemes,” though the TikTok went viral and attracted outside attention from people who “didn’t understand.”

@duanecali Replying to @tacochoosedays YALL have nothing to worry about. I was tranna tell y’all this in my other videos but y’all wasn’t hearing me lol y’all was only seeing me. Don’t believe everything you hear, don’t trust everything you see. But see all and hear all. Discernment is key. #fyp #live #love #laugh #melanin #black #prank #spoof #challenge #newmusic #newsong #discovery #payattention #watch #thehidden #viral #sandman #funnyvideos #reveal #getdressedwithme #dancechallenge ♬ Choose Yourself – Duane Cali

However, Duane Cali wasn’t yet done telling his side of the story, as he uploaded a 3-part TikTok series with further information.

“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,” 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?”

“I created the content. What your mind did with it is on you. I can’t control your assumptions,” Duane Cali added.

He went on to also allege that the public is directly “responsible for the things and the people that receive clout,” saying that, if he did indeed have monkeypox, he would’ve only been prompted to continue to be out-and-about for the sake of attention.

Finally, he ended his update by saying that his music career was doing better much better after the monkeypox hoax, though he said he would refrain from promoting his music “with such sensitive content anymore.”

What do you think about the overall situation?

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