A man has apologised after posting a now-deleted video at a beach party, saying the clip in which he said he'd had Covid-19 had been misinterpreted.
Corey Hannon attended a party at Fire Island Pines, New York, over the 4 July weekend, where he uploaded a video that soon went viral for all the wrong reasons.
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In the clip, the 27-year-old says to the camera: "You know what? I did have Covid. Everyone knows I had Covid, and you know what I did?I sat in my f**king bedroom and quarantined myself for eight f**king days - and suffered through Covid.
"And now I'm out celebrating. So go f**k yourselves. I hope all of you get f**king COVID, you nasty nasty trolls."
Previous posts he'd uploaded to social media implied he was still symptomatic while at the party, writing in one: "I wanna kiki but my body says, nope, not yet.
"Thought the Covid was gone."
After receiving a great deal of backlash online, Hannon has since issued an apology, saying his words had been misunderstood and claiming that the post had been meant as a joke for a friend.
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In a seven-minute Facebook video uploaded on Sunday (5 July), he said: "I am sorry for the misinterpretation that I portrayed on my social media. I'm sorry for the video that got posted to my Story that wished everyone will get Covid.
"That was a video that was never supposed to be on my Story, it was a video that was sent to a mutual friend. It was completely out of bad humour between two friends, which is why the video was deleted within 10 minutes."
He continued: "I would never go out there and righteously infect people.I did what I thought was my part.
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"I apologise that I went out maybe too early. Again, I can't make up for that poor choice that I made. I am a human being, I made a mistake and I am sincerely sorry for that."
Hannon added: "I am not a murderer. I'm not a bad person."
PJ McAteer, the managing director of the Fire Island Pines Commercial District, also released an Instagram statement addressing Hannon's posts on Sunday.
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Condemning Hannon's actions - as well as those of the hundreds of people that had partied on the beach and neighbouring sites - McAteer said: "I want to single out the videos posted by Corey Hannon.
"Never have we been so sickened by the actions of one person. We want to make a clear statement that Mr. Hannon is no longer welcome at any bar and restaurant in Fire Island Pines."
Featured Image Credit: Corey Hannon/InstagramTopics: News, Coronavirus, US News