We’ve seen a lot of life as we know it, exhibit situations that have made many of us question if we are living in a movie, or an episode of Black Mirror. From the pandemic and all its underpinning to Artificial Intelligence’s developments, it is certainly an interesting time to be alive.
So, when TikTok user @masbandakudzi posted a video of people with snow-white faces draped in red robes roaming the V&A Waterfront, the internet went on a wild goose chase as to what was going on. The blurred lines between ‘fictional worlds’ and the real one just seemed to be hitting too close to home.
WATCH: What in the Handmaids Tale was going on at the V&A?
@masbandakudzi Wtf are those people doing in waterfront??? the first thing that comes to mind is Satanism in Africa #capetown #waterfront #southafrica ♬ Oh No – Kreepa
The comments from TikTok ‘detectives’ were a blend of slightly distressed and hilarious.
Here’s how TikTok reacted:
Comments have been edited for basic spelling and grammar
“It’s the Valentine Widows” chuckled @user6546980108691.
“What in the Handmaid’s Tale is going on here” asked @Carmy, to whom this article owes its title.
“They must try to come to Mitchells Plain, I just want to see something” challenged @Douneel77.
“I was gonna say is Lady Gaga here?” @user5377667745547 asked.
“What in the EFF is going on here???” questioned @BondaC in reference to the red attire.
“Nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition”@apcommaille threw into the mix of radical assumptions.
“Sherlock Holmes… [where] you at” demanded @HunterMZx23.
“It’s just the Volturi man, they’re here for the cullens,” reassured @Nikki in reference the Twilight films.
“Cape Town Squid Games” mused @candicaalard.
As creative as the comments were, who are the hooded reds that the V&A saw?
The people in the video aren’t characters from any show, nor the EFF, to users’ dismay. They appear to be members of Extinction Rebellion South Africa – a self-described ‘community organisation’ or environmental activists pledging to demand concrete action on the ecological crisis that they express South Africa is facing. They have three ‘demands’ mostly centred at the government in a pursuit to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2025.
The clip in question formed part of their Red Rebels Global Coastline Rebellion, where they took to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.
If you happened to see people like this dressed in blue – this formed part of their Ocean Rebels Debut.
Also read:
PRASA removes illegal occupants from Cape Town rail premises
Picture: Screenshot from video