So Seflie Rat Was Fake, Does That Mean Pizza Rat Is Too?

Selfie Rat video is fake. What about Pizza Rat?

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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It seems that 2016 may mark the end of the rat sensation of 2015. We're not exactly sure how to feel about it yet, but after discovering that Selfie Rat was all a hoax, nothing is sacred.

According to Gothamist, the sleeping homeless man in the selfie rat video is actually a man named Eric Yearwood, a United Citizens Brigade actor who claims he was enlisted by a mysterious performance artist named Zardulu for the video. It shows a rat coming up to a man sleeping on a subway platform. The rat apparently then takes an accidental selfie on the man's phone. The whole thing was recorded by an anonymous "Don Richards," who Yearwood claims was also part of the scheme. 

"[Zardulu] said she was a NYC-based performance artist and wanted help with a project and was going to pay me a little bit of money," Yearwood stated. "You get weird casting calls and stuff all the time, so I didn't really think too much of it, and when she described the project to me, it seemed pretty weird. Especially the part where there wasn't going to be any sort of revelation at the end of it. I would not be able to take credit for it and neither would she."

Honestly, we had our doubts about that one, but it brings to question the most important rat of 2015: Pizza Rat. In this gem of a video, we see a rat dragging a slice of pizza down subway stairs. 

But is it possible this was just another one of Zadulu's tricks? Could this have all been staged too? Is Pizza Rat nothing but another lie? While it's hard to say for now—and there are many opinions on the matter—we honestly hope not. 

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