You might have seen a video in your Facebook newsfeed earlier this month that was filmed via camera phone. An obviously pregnant young woman is arguing loudly with her boyfriend/father of her unborn child.
The fight gets physical and passengers intervene twice. One woman even takes off her coat and appears ready to shield the pregnant woman with her own body. The boyfriend ends up getting physically attacked by two young men on the train. The pregnant woman tries to pry the men away and begs them to leave her boyfriend alone. Passengers plead with the woman to not go home with the boyfriend, but by the time the video ends, it appears that the couple exits the train together.
The video garnered thousands of views and a slew of comments on various social media platforms. Some people blamed the pregnant woman for her own predicament, some were disgusted by the boyfriend’s callousness and many praised the bravery of the couple’s fellow train passengers. A very interesting and diverse dialogue on domestic violence emerged. Just another crazy New York moment caught on camera, right? Not quite.
The video was a “prank” or at least that’s how the lead actress in that bit of public theater describes it. Her name is Zaida Pugh (a.k.a. Zaida Waters a.k.a Ms Muffin). Her website and YouTube channel make it clear that the videos are pranks, but most of the people passing along the videos and surely all of the unsuspecting members of the public in the videos, have no clue that the scenarios are not real. Pugh agreed to a phone interview with theGrui to talk about her video stunts.
Broaching serious issues through comedy
The domestic violence video is probably not the only one you’ve seen from Pugh. Do you recall the video of the “bad” little boy eating grapes in the grocery store and snatching the wig off of his mother’s head? That’s Pugh.
Or how about the one where a woman loudly proclaims on a train that she contracted AIDS from her ex-boyfriend? And then there’s the video from last summer of Pugh “giving birth” on the Coney Island boardwalk amid romantic drama.
Pugh says her stunts have a bigger purpose than just entertainment.
“Most of them are wake up calls for situations like that. That video of the pregnant girl was meant as a wake up call for women in domestic violence. I let them know that there is a way out. It shows what women go through. People go through real situations like that,” said Pugh.
Some of these topics have personal significance for the actor. “I’ve been through domestic violence. I married in July and it was a very rough marriage. It was very abusive,” said the 18-year-old mother. She said one incident involving her now three-year-old son is what ultimately gave her the courage to leave.
“I asked God for strength. You know, he would put his hands on me and one time, my son tried to stop it and he ended up getting hit. That was it for me. I don’t really have a family to reach out to like that, so it was scary. You stay in situations like that because you feel like you don’t have a choice,” said Pugh.
Real dangers of fake scenarios
For those who figured out that Pugh’s videos are staged, one very logical and frequent criticism is that she is putting people in danger and wasting police and EMT services. After all, she had to literally run from the police with her pretend boyfriend for the domestic violence stunt. The two young men who attacked the boyfriend were also part of her cast as well as the woman who filmed with her camera phone. What if a non-actor on the train had joined in the fight and caused or received serious injury? The woman who took off her coat was a regular citizen who was willing to risk her own safety. Pugh was pleasantly surprised by her bravery.
And for the Coney Island boardwalk birth stunt, several police officers and EMTs responded to the scene. Pugh was actually taken in an ambulance to a hospital. Once the EMTs determined that she was not giving birth and not even pregnant, they asked her to wait at the hospital and be examined by mental health professionals. Pugh managed to leave the hospital and once again evade authorities with the help of her fellow cast members.
“I did not want to break character, so I had to wait until the very last minute to admit everything. Once they heard what I was doing, they were thinking like ‘what’s wrong with this girl?’” said Pugh with a laugh.
Not everyone finds that scenario to be humorous. One commenter on the Coney Island birth video said: “As someone who’s in the health care profession, you’ve crossed the line with this one. It is highly disturbing that you find humor in this. I’ve seen so many EMTs and cops get into serious car accidents responding to real emergencies. This is utter disrespect to professionals. I see in your earlier comment that “it’s what you do”, what you do is dangerous – it doesn’t benefit the world, it just makes you feel relevant. Find a better hobby. I’m not trying to be mean, just show you the severity of your actions. You could have gone to jail for such a stupid act.”
Pugh’s response was “ohhhh wellll lmaoooo thats your opinon hunny thanxs for checking out my video and showing me much love.”
“I’ve never been arrested and I don’t care what people say. I don’t live my life other than how I want to. I do take risks. Most pranksters are risk takers, but for me I’m also putting a message with my videos,” Pugh told theGrio.
The future
Pugh started doing videos at 17 years old and now at almost 19, she’s trying to figure out how to get to the next level. It’s not easy for the teen. She dropped out of high school when was found out she was pregnant at 16 and she had intentions of obtaining her GED. That never happened and now she’s unemployed and looking to eventually take the Test Assessing Secondary Completion, the new high school equivalency exam.
The Brooklyn native said she gets by on child support, occasional help from her parents and temporary city jobs. “It’s been hard. I don’t make money from the videos. Sometimes I only have a single ride fare to shoot them. Hopefully, the videos go somewhere. I try to make them as real as possible. As far as work, I’m willing to do any job– not a commission job though. I need a guaranteed check. Oh and no fast food job,” said Pugh who has dreams of being in movies and working with Tyler Perry.
The mastermind behind many viral videos of the past year is an unemployed teen mom from Brooklyn who is looking to use comedy to spread awareness. Does it change how you view the videos now that you know a little about the creator and that the scenarios are not real?
Do the conversations sparked by Pugh’s videos outweigh the very real dangers of her stunts?
Follow Demetria Irwin on Twitter at @Love_Is_Dope and connect with her on Facebook.