New York Man Throws Money in Tribute to Friend Dead From COVID-19: Reality Check

A video has been viewed thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube alongside a claim it shows a man throwing money to bystanders in New York’s Times Square after his friend died from corona-virus. The video, however, has been shared in a misleading context: the man who created the video said he was paying tribute to a friend who was allegedly shot dead.

The video was published here on Twitter on March 27, 2021. It has been viewed more than 6,400 times and retweeted more than 170 times.The video, however, has been shared in a misleading context: the man who created the video said he was paying tribute to a friend who was allegedly shot. The man claimed that his friend was allegedly shot dead, and did not die from COVID-19.

The Claim

The video shows a man throwing money to bystanders in New York's Times Square. The post's simplified-Chinese caption translates to English as: "Seems that the person died after contracting the CCP virus last year, leaving a large deposit, and entrusting his friend to throw it away at Times Square in New York.

It is true that we cannot bring anything with us when we're born, and we cannot take anything with us when we die."  Multiple Facebook and Twitter users have shared this video with a COVID spin. Twitter user @rajivmehta19 garnered 28,000 views for the clip.

GOQii CEO Vishal Gondal tweeted this video along with the viral text on April 15. Since then it has gained about 1,500 views.Several Facebook users posted the video including singer Minu Muneer who has over 7 lakh followers.

Fact Check

Not related to COVID:

The man in the video doesn’t reveal the cause of the death of his friend. He throws cash on the street and says, “A year ago today. A friend of mine died. He was the rain man, right? His name was Joe Kush. He got killed. And there were some pieces [jewellery] that he made that he never finished. Right here [shows two diamond-studded pendants]. And he made one for his daughter. 

He was a dude that was making good money and got killed for nothing. And I want to kind of commemorate if he died on the Ides of March [March 15] like Caesar…So it’s in his honor. It’s not something I want to do. It’s for him and if his family is watching I’d like them to DM me and I like to get them the pieces. Rest in peace, my brother.”

Joe Kush is a US-based rapper. As per Latest News South Africa, Kush hasn’t been active on social media since March 2020. This led to the rumour that Kush was allegedly shot dead. The report added that artist’s management hasn’t responded to the claim. Keyword search on Google doesn’t show a single media report that confirms his death.

As per Kush’s Instagram page, Fredj Productions handle his bookings. The rapper’s last post was on March 13, 2020, which shows him counting cash. The viral video was uploaded earlier this year by TraxNYC Diamond Jewelry on March 20. TraxNYC is a New York-based jewellery company founded by Maksud Trax Agadjani. Agadjani is the man in the viral video.

He is featured in the US-based fashion magazine GQ Magazine where he critiques the chains of various rappers, including Quavo, Gucci Mane, Offset, 2 Chainz, Vic Mensa, Lil Pump, Future and Wiz Khalifa.

In December 2019, Kush uploaded a video of tossing cash on the street. Agadjani also features multiple times in the clip. Which we found was used multiple times on social media with some false context.

A video by a US-based jewellery store TraxNYC is being shared on Indian social media with the claim that a man is tossing money after his friend — rapper Joe Kush — died on March 15, 2020 due to coronavirus. However, there are no reports of Kush’s death at the moment.

Written by - Sanjana Chakraborty

Edited by - Gourav Chowdhury