A Wellington teen’s stumble down the stairs before going to his high school prom with his girlfriend has gone viral with 11 million people seeing the tweet and national media picking up the story.
Austin Cooper, 18, was walking down the stairs with Jordyn McManus, 16, before going to her Dreyfoos School of the Arts prom Saturday night when one misstep sent him tumbling down a few stairs.
McManus, who also lives in Wellington, posted the video on Twitter the next morning with the caption "At least we tried #Prom2017" and it has circulated the internet — even making appearances on TV shows like Good Morning America.
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Jordyn’s father Terry McManus is still getting a kick out of showing it to all his friends.
“Once you know that Austin fell down and he didn’t get a scratch on him other than his ego, it’s hilarious, man,” he said. “He comes around the corner like he’s James Bond and then he’s James Klutz.”
She posted the video because she thought it would be funny, but they never expected that it would blow up this much. It has more than 111,000 re-tweets and close to 300,000 likes.
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“When something goes viral it goes insane,” Terry McManus said.
But that same insanity bring in people who want to profit off it.
Jordyn was contacted by multiple viral marketing companies that wanted the family to sign a contract giving them the rights to the video for a share of the profit.
Because Jordyn is a minor, she needed to have her mother or father sign their name, but Jordyn wrote her mother’s name on one of the contract that said up front it would give them a majority of the profits.
The problem? The fine print discloses that the family gets almost nothing.
Terry McManus told the company it doesn’t have a valid contract because Jordyn wrote her mother’s name, but the company kept posting. A family attorney has since sent a cease and desist letter.
The video has ended up causing some derision in the family.
“That part of it is very ugly right now,” Terry McManus said.
Looking at it from that standpoint, part of him wishes she never posted the video, but he said he wouldn’t take it back if they could.
It has been a positive for them overall giving them a little taste of viral fame and getting calls from national media outlets.
He’s happy that Austin, who attends Palm Beach State College, got to share in the moment. McManus said he’s protective on who Jordyn can date, but vouches that Austin is a great person, who he really likes.
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