It Looks Like That Cyclist Revenge Video Was A Big Fat Fake

Whether it was on CT or elsewhere, it’s highly likely you saw the above video at some point this week. It shows a female cyclist on the receiving end of the kind of sexist abuse which is - sadly - not that surprising, before exacting her revenge.

The story received extensive coverage in countless publications, but it looks like the whole thing was staged. Numerous eagle-eyed viewers spotted that the wing mirror which the cyclist removed looked to have been partially dismantled in preparation, and Buzzfeed News spoke to an anonymous witness who claimed to have seen the filming and reported that it took two takes to get it right.

The company which distributed the clip - a firm called Viral Thread - has issued a statement admitting it “may be factually incorrect,” while distancing themselves from the production of the video:

“It has come to our attention that a video distributed on our Facebook channel Viral Thread on 21st February 2017 may be factually incorrect.

Contrary to reports, we want to make clear that we were in no way involved in the making or production of this video. The video was received from a third-party content provider and it was distributed on Viral Thread under the impression that it portrayed real-life events.

We rigorously vet all content received from third parties to ascertain its credibility, but unfortunately our usual high standards were not met on this video. We are committed to ensuring and protecting the integrity of content on our channels and take matters of this nature extremely seriously. We’ve since started an internal investigation to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”