On June 3, WFAA-TV in Dallas covered live a local demonstration against police brutality. About 600 protesters had gathered on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge with the intent to disrupt traffic. They gathered peacefully until they were arrested for, well, disrupting traffic… and for being in an area which is off-limits to pedestrians for safety reasons. Walking across bridges which aren’t designed for foot traffic can be dangerous. After being arrested, the protesters were removed from the bridge and released without charges. They didn’t get into any trouble…
…except for Billy.
WFAA’s live feed, as many feeds do, included an area where typed comments could be seen, so as to get a feeling for the general community’s reaction to a given event. In this case, the feed had a special visitor, the grandmother of one of the people on the bridge.
She announced her presence in a very straightforward way.
The live feed comment was noticed by Dallas resident Elizabeth Smith Theis, who posted it, and the ones which followed, to her Instagram account. From there, the saga of Billy – which was originally only known to those who’d tuned in to ABC news in Dallas – was presented to the world.
Even if you don’t normally use Twitter, I encourage everyone to click through these links and look at the screen captures. It’s the story of a young man, a grandmother who loves him, a bunch of people who are willing to step up and help, a live feed operator who recognizes a comedic gold mine, and some PS4 privileges which are likely lost for a good long time.
My favorite comments?
“Grandma don’t know how to tag Billy but she is going to molly whop him when he gets home.”
“Billy dont even go home, grandma is mad!”
And of course, “Covid 19, murder wasps, riots and now we can’t find Billy.”
Billy was eventually located and verified safe. Until he got home and found himself molly whopped. Don’t mess with Grandma.
Question of the night: What’s a memorable moment from one of your grandparents?
