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Journalism of Courage
An Instagram and TikTok influencer has been widely criticised after she came up with a disgusting and dangerous ‘coronavirus challenge’ purely to increase her following on social media. Model Ava Louise posted a video of her licking a toilet seat allegedly on an airplane to prove that the COVID-19 virus couldn’t harm her.
In her bizarre stunt done for “clout”, the 21-year-old American is seen licking the toilet seat to a song titled, ‘It’s Corona Time’. She even flashes the victory sign after the stunt.
“Please RT this so people can know how to properly be sanitary on the airplane,” she wrote on Twitter after posting the TikTok video, which was later deleted.
https://twitter.com/realavalouiise/status/1238915362470625292
The model, who has over 160,000 followers on Instagram and has appeared on television talk shows in the past, was criticised on social media for using fears over the pandemic to boost her following. Many criticised her for using the #CoronavirusChallenge since many medical experts are the hashtag to highlight preventive measures and bust myths.
Some have since demanded that Louise be jailed and others have pointed out that even without the pandemic, licking a toilet seat is potentially injurious. Many also feared that her video might influence others.
https://twitter.com/geethreeforce/status/1239581635563139075
However, the model later put out multiple posts claiming that she was unfazed by the criticism. She claimed that her actions had ended xenophobia on TikTok.
https://twitter.com/realavalouiise/status/1239266668188180481
https://twitter.com/realavalouiise/status/1239254113336143872
https://twitter.com/realavalouiise/status/1239252856638787586
https://twitter.com/realavalouiise/status/1239205113891340289
She later claimed the toilet seat had been cleaned with bleach and wasn’t a health risk. She also put out a YouTube video explaining why she did it saying, she would run for president.
https://twitter.com/realavalouiise/status/1239685647159492615
Talking about her ending xenophobia, Louise told Insider: “The xenophobia makes me sad. What’s not gunna make people sad is a hot rich blonde 20-something-year-old licking a toilet. It’s not like the virus can kill me anyway because I don’t use Facebook.”
Earlier this month, videos from Iran went viral after pilgrims were seen licking gates at shrines despite the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the country.
