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Mysterious Figure Comes Forward To Claim Responsibility For Pizza Rat Video

by Gillian Fuller

Friends, our worst fears have been confirmed: Pizza rat was, indeed, a hoax.

Earlier this week, a mysterious figure named “Zardulu” came forward to claim responsibility for the video that broke the Internet, along with several other viral rodent videos and one involving a three-eyed fish.

Supposed performance artist Zardulu allegedly orchestrated the now-famous videos by training rats to perform strange tricks, like dragging pizza down subway steps and taking “selfies” with the help of unwitting strangers.

Dozens of local actors have confirmed they were hired by Zardulu to participate in the videos, often paid meager fees to act in the short clips, which, according to the creator, are public art displays known as “Zardulism,” aka “art of the viral age.”

OOOKK.

Though the fact that pizza rat is fake is, admittedly, kind of a bummer, there's a bright side to all of this, and it's the revelation that rats can be trained. I mean, with all of the rats here in New York, someone could really capitalize on this.

We could train rats to clear trash off the subway tracks (thus preventing delays and making morning commutes approximately 10,000 times better). Or train them to, I don't know, clean the streets. Or at the VERY least, train them to stay the f*ck out of our apartments.

Seriously, this could be huge.

I just ask the brave soul who endeavors to actually train the lice-ridden rodents to give me a cut of the profits. After all, it was my idea (and this article is my proof, admissible in court).

Read more about the bizarre pizza rat hoax over at Gothamist, which covers the case in painstaking (and absolutely unnecessary) detail.

Citations: The Artist Behind The Three Eyed Fish And Selfie Rat And Other Viral Hoaxes (New York Times), Mysterious Masked Priestess Claims Responsibility For Pizza Rat Hoax, 3-Eyed Fish (Gothamist)