Legendary Video Updated as Man Who Collapsed Into Hysterics Over Squirrel Loose in Office Addresses Embarrassing Viral Moment
In 2022, footage went viral of a man in his home office on a video call with co-workers who devolved into a screaming, frantic mess when a squirrel came in the room.
He’s now given an interview explaining those few seconds that made him famous for tfhe wrong reasons.
HGTV recently posted footage of the moment to social media platform TikTok with bits of the interview included after outlets like the Daily Mail reported on the story in September 2022.
The man, identified as James, told the camera, “I’m hearing some rustling in what was the fireplace.”
“I’m a big Cincinnati Reds fan. I love baseball,” he said as footage showed James picking up a bat to deal with the intruder.
He began to scream for “Julie! Julie!” — which we now know was the name of the nanny that helped take care of his four children.
“The squirrel came down from the chimney,” he explained. “Jules is our fearless nanny.”
“If there’s one person that I know I can count on, it’s Jules.” James added.
But the nanny wasn’t home.
She was out to lunch, which left James to fend for himself.
@hgtv Finally, we know where “Julie” was. #NeighborhoodWatch #Squirrel ♬ original sound – HGTV
“I had no idea that I was still on that Teams call. They were gasping, they were wondering whether I was getting robbed, whether I was having a heart attack.”
He added that the squirrel was probably trying to get to the window behind him, eventually crawling up his chimney for animal control to catch afterwards.
Because his coworkers witnessed the entire incident, they teased James for his reaction.
“There were t-shirts made and some other jokes on my behalf and I quickly embraced it,” James said.
“My kids do poke fun at me from time to time when they see a squirrel getting close. I’m still known as the squirrel guy to my kids’ friends,” James continued.
“At the end of the day, I’m grateful that I was able to have this on camera and people can smile and laugh as a result of what happened to me.”
The footage is somewhat embarrassing — a grown man is screaming at the top of his lungs and jumping around the room over a small animal.
James, however, took the reaction in stride, being a good sport about the barbs in his direction.
There is a lesson to be learned here.
The opportunity to face danger and show masculine courage can present itself in the most mundane circumstances — like a work call in your home office.
Sure, it was a tiny rodent, but someone’s always paying attention. James’ children clearly were.
A feminized society is one in which we call for help in dire situations. A masculine one is where we choose to solve our own problems.
We need to do better in being examples to promote the latter.
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