A California influencer who licked a toilet in the viral TikTok challenge amid the coronavirus pandemic claims he tested positive for COVID-19. The social media personality, who has been going by @GayShawnMendes on Twitter and is known as Larz, first announced the diagnosis on Twitter, saying, “I tested positive for Coronavirus.”
His Twitter account has since been suspended, but in a video that accompanied the tweet obtained by The Daily Mail, Larz was apparently laying in a hospital bed and offering to go live with his followers. The diagnosis came just days after he first shared a video of himself licking a toilet seat in a public restroom on March 20, captioning the tweet, “RT to spread awareness for the Coronavirus :).” After news of his apparent diagnosis first broke, social media was less than sympathetic at the turn of events.
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Eating Tide pods, licking toilets, seriously WTF is wrong w/Gen Z?! Is this what growing up indoors online no fresh air or playing outside does to kids?? Serious question
— Donna Bobana (@donnabobanablog) March 24, 2020
NO SYMPATHY! I’m just pissed the MFer is taking up space when someone more deserving should be in the hospital
— Big F (@MrFFW) March 24, 2020
[stares]
I wish it wasn’t but this is the limit of my empathy.
[walks away]
— Ben Philippe (@gohomeben) March 24, 2020
The toilet-licking challenge was coined earlier this month by TikTok user Ava Louise, who filmed herself licking the seat of an airplane toilet while saying she was attempting to raise awareness for the global pandemic.
“Please RT this so people can know how to properly be sanitary on the airplane,” Louise wrote alongside the video, including the hashtag “coronavirus challenge.”
In an interview with PEOPLE, Louise said she was trying to “troll” the media amid the viral pandemic, adding of her own future goals, “I’m looking for a record deal and a reality show about my messy life.”
As of Thursday morning, 69,210 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in the United States as testing becomes more readily available, with 1,046 deaths being attributed to the disease.
Photo credit: Getty Images
