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A UK father’s sick sense of humor is bombing hard on social media.
Wayne Coldicutt is facing backlash online over a cruel prank in which he convinced his family they were going to die of an imminent Russian nuclear attack amid the nation’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The atomically stupid video has racked up nearly 1 million views on Twitter as of Friday morning.
“It went brilliantly. Beyond expectations,” prankster Coldicutt, 32, told SWNS of the sick gag, which started blowing up online just after Russia seized Ukraine’s largest nuclear plant.
The warehouse operator said he was inspired after seeing a mock video titled “UK Emergency Alert – Nuclear Attack Warning” on YouTube, and decided to hatch a plan to win an “ongoing prank war” with his bride-to-be Becca Redhead, 31.
“When I saw the video on YouTube I just thought about pranking her,” explained the Liverpool resident. “I knew she’d fall for it because she’s so dramatic and gullible with everything. I knew she was going to be an easy target.”
The ensuing two-minute clip, shot by Coldicutt and tweeted by his fiancé’s brother Alan Redhead, shows the amateur videographer in his living room watching a glowing red TV monitor.
On it, a BBC and state-sponsored broadcast, titled “emergency broadcast,” warns audiences to “be prepared to shelter for 14 days after the strike.” Meanwhile, a creepily monotone narrator is heard advising viewers to erect an “inner refuge away from windows and doors” to protect them from “radiation sickness” caused by fallout.
At that point, Coldicutt calls his fiancée, whereupon she rushes downstairs with the couple’s 3-year-old son Louie Coldicutt in tow.
“Is this a joke?” the incredulous Redhead sputters upon hearing the mock broadcast. Then, taking the bait, the panicked parent calls her mother, Ann Redhead, 61, with the “bad news,” shouting hysterically that an “attack is imminent” and to “make sure to stay indoors.”
At that moment, her gleeful future hubby can’t contain himself anymore and starts laughing uproariously, whereupon Redhead realizes she’s been had.
“He’s lucky to still be alive, trust me,” she told SWNS. “He nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought the Russians were coming.”
She added, “I can hand-on-heart say I feel like I’ve lived through the beginning of a world war. That’s how it felt. It felt real.”
Redhead says she’s since seen the humor in the prank, insisting: “I’ve watched it over and over because I keep laughing at myself.”
“I’ll try and get him back with a prank but I don’t think anything can top him creating World War Three,” she added.
Suffice it to say, the obtuse stunt didn’t sit as well many social media users with one tweeting: “Yeah hilarious. I bet the people in real nuclear threat would be pissing themselves at this.”
“And who’s to say this can’t happen anyway if it escalates, they’re [Russia] the biggest country in the world,” they added.
Another aghast gawker fumed, “Yeah because my family in Ukraine would find this hilarious right now while their home has been obliterated, their small children now have no home and friends/colleagues have been found dead. Get a grip.”
One gallows humor enthusiast said they would’ve liked a prank if it hadn’t been done during the aforementioned international crisis.
“Look, I do see the humor in this,” they wrote. “If you did this any other time, it would be hilarious.. but doing something like this right now is just really tone-deaf. There’s people in Ukraine, for whom these messages on their TV are real. Spare them a thought.”
However, Coldicutt insists that he wasn’t thinking of the Ukraine-Russia conflict when devising the prank.
“The situation in Ukraine didn’t even come to mind, so it’s nothing about that,” he said, before smugly quipping that his wife is “never going to be able to top that.”
“I’ve won the war and the battle,” he boasted.
The United Nations recently reported that 227 civilians had perished and 525 had been injured between Feb. 24, when the invasion started, and March 1. However, they observed that they’re likely undercounting the number of casualties.
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