Two Ballymun lads have gone viral after their TikTok prank went too far.
Jamie Keeley has over 200,000 views and 40,500 likes on his TikTok video paying tribute to his pal, Thomas Ward.
The clip shows a picture of Thomas with the caption: “This world is so cruel. I’m still in shock and really can’t believe this. RIP Thomas until we meet again, fly high.”
It then transitions into a voice note from Mr Ward saying: “Oh my God, are you for real? You’re stupid, I’m out here for a walk, minding my own business and I find out that I’m dead on Instagram.
“What am I? A floating ghost around Ballymun? Some would be delighted with themselves knowing that I’ve died and passed away.
“Like seriously Jamie? Arms of an Angel and all, one of the saddest songs ever.”
Thomas had to explain to family and friends that he was in fact, not dead after the TikTok gained thousands of likes and views.
He told Dublin Live: “I am alive, thank Jesus. What a joke it was, I was so surprised, I didn't know what was going on.
“I was out on a walk, just chilling and I saw my Instagram to see that I was dead.
“I was down at Albert College too and people were staring at me, some shouted in shock that I was alive.”
But the ‘floating ghost around Ballymun’ had some explaining to do as many people believed the joke.
He explained: “I heard a knock at the door, I didn’t think anyone ordered food, it was a bit late, and then I heard a knock again on the window, you know something is up when someone knocks on your window.
“It was one of my mams friends, his face just dropped when I answered and he goes ‘is that a joke? That’s not funny, my daughter is crying.’
“Everyone thought it was real, my sister got a call from a friend who was sobbing and I got notifications from people I don’t really like, saying ‘oh my God, I can’t believe he’s passed away’ so at least I know these people are out there, but they’re stealing the limelight from my funeral, you know what I mean.
“There were some people hopping the bandwagon that I was dead. Let me die in peace and don’t take my limelight.
“A councillor in the area even got onto me to ask what was going on.”
Thomas described how the TikTok was a joke and it was something to distract everyone during the pandemic.
He said: “There’s so much going on with the pandemic and to see everyone laughing in the comments was really nice.
“Loads of people are slagging my accent in the comments, people were asking where it was from.
“Jamie wishes that I did it to him because I’m getting so much attention, it was nice to hear that people were concerned.
“But out of any song you could pick, I’m a big fan of Nicki Minaj, you could pick Grand Piano or whatever, the song was a great little song because you just think of sadness and death.”
The creator of the sensational video, Mr Keeley couldn’t believe how far the prank went.
Jamie said: “I didn’t think it’d get the reaction it did. So many people were asking me if it was true, what happened. My DMs were mental, but some people were saying you should never joke about that.
“My TikTok exploded as well, and I was jealous that Thomas was getting the attention and not me.
“I thought it’d be an inside joke with our friend group, I thought it’d be funny, but I never expected it. It still hasn’t stopped, I'm still getting notifications every second.”
Jamie explained that Thomas’ mother was even getting phone calls about the incident. But how did the creative idea come about?
“I love TikTok and I saw the American trend, and I was like, you know what I’m bored so I sat down and thought who’d be the funniest person to do it to, and it definitely had to be Thomas.
“Someone who I follow on Instagram, their uncle died and they had that song.
"I thought it really adds to the effect, and when I was making the video I thought it had to be that song.
“I knew it’d be funnier and more believable if it was that song.
“His reaction made it 100% funnier because he has that vibe.
"He loves the attention too, he was so interested to findout who was texting me to see who actually cared that he died.”
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