A viral video has shown the moment an apparent teenager attempted to tear down a pride flag outside a house, but couldn't quite manage it.
The video, which can also be seen here, was shared online by TikTok user @leftovergains, who had a large gay pride flag hanging from her garage door, and features her CCTV footage from July 5.
In the clip, which has amassed over a million views since being uploaded six days ago, a young male approached the house with his face covered by pink fabric and attempted to tear the flag down.
After his first few failed attempts, he repeatedly tugged at it with extreme force in a final effort, but once more failed. In the end, he gave up and walked off.
"Kid tries and fails to steal my pride flag," she captioned the video. In later comments, the TikTok user confirmed she lived in Phoenix, Arizona.
In another video, the TikTok user showed how she attached the flag to the garage door, making it so hard for the teen to tear it down. The flag was actually attached to the wall above the garage door with two carabiners and screw-in posts, and hung through the gap at the top.
June was pride month, a time of celebration for the LGBTQ+ community, but it also saw reports of property vandalism in relation to the month as well. Various incidents involving flags being destroyed or removed were reported across the U.S., including a Maine boutique which had its rainbow flag removed during the night and a family home in New York which had a flag knocked over and a large branch dragged across the yard.
In June, a video went viral after capturing a man approaching volunteers in Saskatoon, Canada painting a rainbow crosswalk for Pride month. The man, dubbed a "homophobic cowboy," knocked over barriers and allegedly yelled slurs at the volunteers. He was later arrested by local police over the incident.
@leftovergains kid tries and fails to steal my pride flag#fail #pride #rainbow #getoffmylawn #ohnowyouwannawearamask
♬ original sound - leftovergains
"It's sad to see young people with so much hate in their hearts," commented one TikTok user on the video of the failed vandalism attempt.
"Imagine taking the time out of your day to do that," wrote another.
In a follow-up video, the TikTok user responded to a comment which read: "He pulls like a girl," calling out the casual sexism. "As a girl myself, I take offense to that, because if he could pull like me, I might not actually have a flag," she said, showing herself successfully doing pull-ups.
@leftovergains confirmed in following videos that she did not feel the need to call the police over the incident, but joked that she may start a fundraiser for the young man to be able to buy his own flag, rather than steal one.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
