Those May 2nd TikTok Videos Are Freaking People Out — Here's What's Going On
Published May 2 2021, 10:43 a.m. ET
If you’re mystified or even creeped out by all the May 2nd TikTok videos you’re seeing today, Sunday, May 2, you’re certainly not alone. People are posting eerie TikTok videos — uploading creepy images anime characters and hashtagging #may2nd ad infinitum — and commenters on these videos are begging for answers.
On this video, comments include, “Please, what does this mean?” and “WHAT IS GONNA HAPPEN?” And on this one, commenters say, “What is May 2nd? I’m scared,” and “ARE YOU GUYS TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD OR WHAT?”
What's happening on May 2nd, according to TikTok?
Until these TikTok uploaders give us some context, we won’t know what the May 2nd videos mean. Alternatively, the videos might mean nothing at all. Maybe we’re all being trolled. (Remember when TikTokkers claimed the world would end on January 12? Or that Charlie D’Amelio would die on March 12? We rest our case.)
Because it might be folly to try to figure out what May 2nd means to these TikTok uploaders, let’s just round up the historical significance of the day, yeah?
Dwayne Johnson and David Beckham are celebrating their birthdays on May 2.
Wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson turns 48 today, and English football star David Beckham turns 45. Princess Charlotte turns 5, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Ellie Kemper turns 40, The Good Fight star Christine Baranski turns 68. And K-pop stars Sunmi and Huang Zitao turn 28 and 27, respectively.
It’s also the birthday of Catherine the Great and Lesley Gore.
Russian empress Catherine the Great was born on this date in 1729, composer Alessandro Scarlatti was born on this date in 1660, gossip columnist Hedda Hopper was born on this date in 1885, Indian film director Satyajit Ray was born on this day in 1921; and “It’s My Party” singer was born on this date in Lesley Gore in 1946.
Leonardo da Vinci and Afeni Shakur died on May 2.
Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah reportedly died on this day in 1203 BC; Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci died on this day in 1519; inaugural FBI director J. Edgar Hoover died on this day in 1972; former Singaporean president Wee Kim Wee died on this day in 2005; and Afeni Shakur, activist and mother of Tupac, died on this day in 2016.
It’s also the date that Osama bin Laden was killed and Chernobyl was evacuated.
On this day in 1536, Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, was arrested. In 1611, the King James Version of the Bible was published for the first time. In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France. In 1945, the Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin. In 1986, the city Chernobyl was evacuated following the deadly nuclear accident in the area. And in 1997, Tony Blair became prime minister of the United Kingdom.
That’s not all. In 2000, Bill Clinton announced that GPS technology, previously reserved for the military, would be made available to the public. In 2008, Chaitén Volcano began erupting in Chile. In 2011, U.S. special forces killed Osama bin Laden. And in 2012, a pastel version of Edward Munch’s painting The Scream sold for a record $120 million in New York City.
So, yeah, isn't May 2 a scream?!