It’s also true that there are many fan-made videos featuring the character Huggy Wuggy on YouTube’s main platform, many of which would be quite disturbing to small children.
Although the character incorporates the iconography of kid-friendly entertainment, such as fuzzy blue fur and a wide smile, it does so in an objectively terrifying way and is clearly not targeted at children. Poppy Playtime is not targeted at small children: It’s rated age 12 and up on iOS (although other game reviews list it as 8+). It’s a character from the popular (adults-oriented) video game Poppy Playtime, made by the developer MOB Games, about a former toy store factory employee who returns to his old workplace and is stalked by Huggy Wuggy and other terrifying toys. The truth is, Huggy Wuggy is a real character - but not one that stems from the twisted mind of trolls trying to traumatize young children.
As recently as this week, the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office in Wisconsin (which did not respond to requests for comment) issued a concern-stricken message on its Facebook page warning parents about a string of YouTube videos featuring the character, which feature “offensive language, cartoon representations of alcohol use, blood, stabbings, decapitations, attempted murder, murder, and the bloody aftermath of a car crash,” as well as a scene in which one character hugs another until they pass out. “Creepy online figure pushes kids to kill their parents,” reads a headline on one such post. Rumors that trolls were using Huggy Wuggy to target children have since been circulating nonstop on parent groups, with mothers claiming their toddlers had been served a Huggy Wuggy video in their recommended videos. outlet Dorset Live quoted a Dorset Police officer specifically stating that the videos were being served to extremely young children, stating, “if you were to use even YouTube Kids, for example, it may slip through because there is nothing obviously sinister about the name of a video.” There have been a small number of reports to this effect, albeit not super well-substantiated ones: A mother recently told the British outlet Sky News, for instance, that her three-year-old son had attempted to jump out the window after seeing his older siblings play a Huggy Wuggy game on the gaming platform Roblox. Since then, such claims have circulated among schools, mom Facebook groups, and police departments all over the world, followed by claims that children were attempting to replicate the actions of Huggy Wuggy. The March 22 post, according to Snopes, featured what was supposedly an email from her child’s school, warning about a “very deceiving character” who “sings worrying songs about hugging and killing.” The post stated that children had stumbled on such videos on TikTok, YouTube, and even YouTube Kids, which is designed for children from preschool age to 12. Such rumors started taking root in the United Kingdom first, following a Facebook post (which has since been deleted) reportedly published by a concerned mom. RS Recommends: 5 Devices You Need to Set Up Your Smart Home
The Private Lives of Liza Minnelli (The Rainbow Ends Here) Such videos are reportedly prompting children to reenact those videos on the playground by hugging each other extremely tightly and whispering the gruesome lyrics to each other. Case in point: the recent panic over Huggy Wuggy, a character from a video game franchise who is the subject of hysterical reports posted in police and mom Facebook groups.Īccording to multiple local news outlets, YouTube and TikTok are replete with videos featuring a character named Huggy Wuggy, a horrifying blue creature with razor-sharp teeth who kind of looks like a cross between Grover, Slender Man, and Forky from Toy Story 4. These reports suggest that children are watching videos featuring Huggy Wuggy - which include songs about him hugging people “until you breathe your last breath” - and getting not-so-good ideas. There’s nothing that parents of small children love more than giving kids unfettered access to phones and iPads - then freaking out over what kinds of age-inappropriate content they may be seeing on such devices.