Moment influencer pretends to help repair ransacked shop for Instagram photo
After pretending to use the drill, she hopped in a Mercedes-Benz and drove away.
A journalist was filmed pretending to help repair a ransacked shop just for an Instagram photo – then left in a Mercedes SUV as soon as her picture was taken.
The woman, identified as Washington Examiner intern Fiona Moriarty-McLaughlin by New York Times journalist Taylor Lorenz, is seen in the video holding a drill near a destroyed building that was in the process of being boarded up while a pal takes her picture in Santa Monica, California.
After the picture was apparently taken, Moriarty-McLaughlin hands the drill to the man working on the building, telling him ‘thank you so much’ before getting into the passenger seat of the luxury SUV. The power tool was not heard being used at any point in the clip.
Just before driving away, Moriarty-McLaughlin could be heard telling the people filming, ‘Good job guys, BLM,’ in an apparent reference to Black Lives Matter, a social movement at the center of the ongoing George Floyd protests across the country.
The clip was posted to Twitter and has been viewed over 19 million times, infuriating many. Moriarty-McLaughlin appears to have since deleted her social media accounts.
‘What is wrong with these entitled a**holes?! Who the f*** are you and who are your parents you horrible person. How can anyone defend this???!!!’ American singer-songwriter Pink, tweeted in response to the video.
Director Ava DuVernay retweeted the video, writing: ‘You know what? I’m… I think I’m gonna put Twitter away for a few minutes before I throw this phone across the room.’
Moriarty-McLaughlin was not the only person ripped online for using the Santa Monica protests for a black man killed by police as an opportunity for an Instagram photo. Another woman was filmed posing in front of a T-store just hours after its storefront had been destroyed.
That clip has since been viewed more than 8 million times and drew the ire of NBA superstar LeBron James, who responded to video in a tweet, writing: ‘”They’ll Do ANYTHING for Clout!! Cardi and Offset tried to tell y’all.’