It Looks Like NSW Health Might Have Ended TikTok Guys’ COVID Case ‘Predictions’
It seems his 'good luck' has come to an end.
By now, you’ve probably heard about TikTok Guy, AKA Jon-Bernard Kairouz, a ‘comedian’ who had been accurately ‘predicting’ NSW’s COVID case numbers.
Up until today, Kairouz had shared the correct COVID case numbers the night before they were officially shared by NSW Health at Premier Gladys Berejiklian‘s 11am press conference five days in a row.
Kairouz had previously claimed that it was his superior maths skills that allowed him to make such accurate predictions.
When interviewed on Sky News and Sunrise, Kairouz trolled his interviewers on the source of his maths superpowers. On Sunrise, he claimed his abilities were the result of “a crayon being jammed in his brain as a child”. The interviewer didn’t seem to realise Kairouz was referencing an iconic episode of The Simpsons. In the episode, it’s revealed the reason Homer is so stupid is that he has a crayon lodged in his brain, and when the crayon is removed he becomes a genius.
Not the TikTok guy who gets the case numbers right saying that he had a crayon lodged in his brain which made his IQ rise 50 points live on sunrise, I KNOW YOU’RE NOT HOMER SIMPSON SIR.
— Kimiz (@calamitykimiz) July 17, 2021
Kairouz similarly trolled Sky News, citing yet another pop culture reference as the origins of his ‘genius’. This time, he claimed that he went to a school for gifted youngsters with Professor Xavier and Hugh Jackman — and if the interviewer recognised the obvious X-Men reference, they didn’t show it.
Who Is Jon-Bernard Kairouz, AKA TikTok Guy?
The most basic answer is that he is an Australian ‘comedian’ and actor with a mid-tier following. Prior to the success of his COVID case prediction TikToks, his content mostly revolved around reacting to — and making fun of — women on TikTok.
Kairouz also makes vox pop videos in which he asks random people weird questions. In one of these videos, he’s inside a hospital asking staff who they think are more essential: primary teachers or nurses. If it isn’t already clear: a lot of Kairouz’s content reeks of misogyny.
Don’t worry about #TikTokGuy losing his source. He might not be able to give you the Covid numbers early anymore, but he can still make great videos like calling Scarlett Johansson a slut and asking nurses if they only got into the job to marry a rich doctor…
— Tosh Greenslade (@ToshGreenslade) July 19, 2021
How Has Kairouz Been Finding Out The Case Numbers?
There have been many theories as to how Kairouz was so accurate in his predictions. The most common theory is that he simply had someone on the inside at NSW Health leaking the numbers to him the night before the official announcement.
As TikTok Guy’s track record comes to a screeching halt, people are wondering whether NSW Health fed someone incorrect numbers on purpose to help them find the leak.
While the state government has not commented on the situation, Kairouz’s prediction for today, July 19, was off by seven — his ‘prediction’ of 105 was higher than the actual 98 cases.
Hearing #TikTokGuy is wrong about today's estimate of 109 new cases in NSW. Figure was fed to him to 'smoke out' his source. #nswcovid #nswpol
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) July 19, 2021
The NSW government has put more effort into shutting down the #TikTokGuy than shutting down #COVID19nsw
— Gary Fallon (@GaryFallon2) July 19, 2021
Dr Kerry Chant to whoever they gave the 109 figure to yesterday pic.twitter.com/ITrrn4arly
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) July 19, 2021
So, What’s TikTok Guy Going To Do Now?
Kairouz responded his error on Twitter, joking that Monday’s official figures were a rouse to ‘discredit’ him.
“They claim to have captured the person supposedly leaking the information, through high level surveillance and trapping, which just disrespects the hard work and mathematical process conducted by my brothers and I,” the statement read.
— Jon-Bernard Kairouz (@jonbernardk) July 19, 2021
Government conspiracy theories aside, one thing that’s increasingly concerning is how ready the public were to believe that a random dude on TikTok had more knowledge than NSW Health regarding COVID.
No matter how you slice it, TikTok Guy’s reign over the last five days is a social media-fuelled indictment of people’s lack of faith and trust in the government’s handling of the pandemic.