Mayor Bill de Blasio's text hotline for New Yorkers to snitch on social distance violators is suspended after being bombarded with prank memes and VERY rude pictures
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was forced to temporarily close his coronavirus 'snitch hotline' over the weekend as the service was inundated with prank calls, pictures of genitalia and memes likening de Blasio to Adolf Hitler.
De Blasio unveiled the controversial scheme on Saturday, urging New Yorkers to text 311 to report anyone violating the state's social distancing rules or stay-at-home orders.
However, the response didn't quite go to plan as aggrieved members of the public vehemently criticized the 'tyrannical overreach' the hotline posed and within hours it was flooded messages of contempt for de Blasio instead.
Such messages included photos of extended middle fingers and links to articles about de Blasio breaking his own social distancing instructions when he was seen going into a gym in mid-March, after the coronavirus outbreak had already started ravaging the city.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was forced to temporarily close his coronavirus 'snitch hotline' over the weekend as the service was inundated with prank calls, pictures of genitalia and memes likening de Blasio to Adolf Hitler
Such messages included photos of extended middle fingers and links to articles pertaining to de Blasio breaking his own social distancing instructions when he was seen going into a gym in mid-March, after the coronavirus outbreak had already started ravaging the city
Other images posted to Twitter show users texting the number with images of Adolf Hitler, with the words 'To those turning in your neighbors and locals businesses - you did the Reich thing' written beneath.
Another user photoshopped the video of de Blasio announcing the tip line, adding a Hitler mustache to his lip and a Schutzstaffel Nazi logo to his suit jacket, with the words 'Message from the Furor [sic]' written in the top left-hand corner.
An NYPD source told the New York Post that a series of penis photographs were also sent to the number, and one caller phoned in a tip claimed that he'd just seen de Blasio performing oral sex on someone 'in an alleyway behind 7-11' in the early hours of Sunday morning.'There. Fixed [it],' the user wrote.
'He looked at me and coofed in my direction,' the caller reportedly told the operator. With the word coof, a new slang term, meaning coughing while infected with coronavirus, according to UrbanDictionairy.com.
The messages didn't stop there either as rallying cries were made on social media to 'start flooding their reporting text number' with similarly contemptuous messages.
Other 'tips' included an image of a bowl filled with gummy candies shaped like male genitalia, accompanied with message instructing city officials to 'Eat a bag of d***s'.
City Hall confirmed to the Post on Tuesday that they were forced to temporarily close the 311 text line on Sunday to clear out the backlog of unsavory messages from its sever.
'This issue has been resolved, but it was not a technical issue on 311’s part,' mayoral spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie told the outlet.
The city has now started vetting all of the messages before sending out the information to precincts, the source said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio's text hotline for New Yorkers to snitch on social distance violators is suspended after being bombarded with prank memes and VERY rude pictures
![Mayor Bill de Blasio's text hotline for New Yorkers to snitch on social distance violators is suspended after being bombarded with prank memes and VERY rude pictures]()
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April 22, 2020
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