Man rallies strangers to sing birthday song for boy at McDonald’s outlet
A video of a man leading a group of strangers to sing a birthday song for a boy they did not know at a McDonald’s outlet has gone viral, with the man believing he has started a trend.
The video, titled “Birthday Prank”, was posted on April 13 by TikToker @mr.long_ and includes a birthday wish for the boy in the accompanying caption.
The 72-second video starts with mr.long_ approaching two schoolgirls to join him in singing a birthday song for his “friend”, and they agree.
Next, he tries to speak to a group of schoolboys but is ignored. He then approaches another boy who is biting into his burger and asks for his name.
After learning it, the TikToker loudly announces that it is the boy’s birthday and asks everyone to sing for him.
He then launches into the song at the count of three, with a few voices joining him, including the boy’s friend.
Some enjoyed the video, others found it a ‘hard watch’
The video has garnered more than 197,000 views, 16,900 reactions, and 107 comments.
“That’s a real friend in the Brazil shirt,” said a TikToker, referring to the boy’s friend.
While most seemed to enjoy the celebration, there were some who were not so impressed.
“Not funny,” said one. “Hard watch, bro,” another said.
A check of mr.long_’s account reveals four other similar videos, with views ranging from 26,800 to 179,100. His page also states: “Friend’s birthday coming up? DM me and I’ll sing for them in public.”
Felt most people were too shy to celebrate loudly in Singapore
Speaking to Stomp, the TikToker, who wants to be known as Mr Long, said he made these videos to help people celebrate their birthdays.
“I started this trend because I feel like most people are too shy or ‘paiseh’ to celebrate loudly in Singapore. I wanted to break that social norm,” explained Mr Long, who said he is a university undergraduate.
“There wasn’t a lot of planning, it was a spontaneous idea to see if I could bring some high energy to a public space.”
He calls them pranks “because of the element of surprise”, he said. “The birthday person never expects someone to make such a loud scene in public.”
“The people are usually shocked at first, but it always ends with them being happy and laughing. It makes their day memorable,” said Mr Long.
He added that he does not get paid for his efforts and has no plans to charge fees.
“I do it because I genuinely believe everyone’s birthday is special, and I want to use my platform to make it meaningful for them,” said Mr Long.
“For the first few videos, I featured people I didn’t know, but after it went viral, people (like the boys from Clementi Town Secondary School) started inviting me to join their celebrations.
For the video in question, Mr Long revealed that the boy’s friend, who was wearing the Brazil football jersey in the video, had engaged him for the prank.
Mr Long said he had expected the videos to go viral to some degree — “about 60 per cent”, he estimated.
“I knew that ‘shouting out loud’ and making a scene for someone’s birthday is quite rare nowadays,” he explained.
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