Viral "Quarantine Cutie" Video May Not Have Been As Goofily Spontaneous As Advertised

Last week, an aggressively saccharine viral video known as Quarantine Cutie circled around the internet. In the video, a man, Jeremy Cohen, notices his neighbor dancing on the roof and flies a drone over to her roof with his number attached. The two start chatting and go on very silly (and filmed) dates. It is certainly sentimental.

Here is part 1, 2, and 3 of “Quarantine Cutie” all in one tweet pic.twitter.com/L9pnEV4oZM

— Jeremy Cohen (@jerm_cohen) March 29, 2020

If something smells fishy to you about this whole story, you're not alone. Many believed the video was staged (despite Cohen's insistence it was real).

This is a really touching fake story https://t.co/pFgvXuwpNO

— steve (@juiceboxpupyman) March 23, 2020

I'm with ya. I can't believe this bullshit attempt at attention actually worked as well

— david cross✍ (@davidcrosss) March 23, 2020

Turns out, there was indeed more to the story than met the eyes of bored internet viewers desperate for some positivity. OneZero's Peter Slattery, himself an internet viewer with self-professed "nothing but time on my hands," took a dive into the story to get the facts.

Turns out, what you see in Cohen's TikToks isn't the whole story. Evidently, Cohen's friend Josh Katz was on the rooftop with the "Quarantine Cutie" beforehand, and he helped make the whole meet-cute possible.

"Katz and Cohen were both working on rooftop photography projects that week, and follow each other on Instagram," Slattery writes. "Did Cohen ask his friend to help set up the meet-cute for TikTok? He says he didn’t go that far, though he did say he told Katz to “film it on his phone” and to follow up with Cignarella when she didn’t initially text him back (her phone died, apparently)."

The lady in the video, Tori Cignarella, posted her own TikTok video giving her side of the story. She also maintains she did not know Cohen beforehand.

Whether or not it was staged, it has certainly led to a boom of social media attention for the couple. Cohen has gained over 570,000 followers on TikTok since going viral, and his photography is featured on the latest cover of New York Magazine.

While Slattery concludes, "Whether or not the TikTok was indeed set up, if you find solace in the clip, by all means, go on enjoying it. It’s certainly still creative whether or not it was spontaneous," his Twitter seems to indicate how he feels about the situation.

I went looking into that viral Brooklyn drone date TikTok for ozm</a>.<br><br>Turns out, the drone guy had a friend on the roof with the girl.<br><br>When I asked <a href="https://twitter.com/jerm_cohen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">jerm_cohen if the TikTok was set up beforehand, he was short on specifics + long on pauses. https://t.co/CHi0k2AGb7

— Peter Slattery (@PeterSlattery3) April 2, 2020