Lady Gaga fan goes viral for blowup over Joker 2 trailer but there’s a catch

Christopher Baggett
Arthur Fleck in Joker 2

A video going viral on social media shows a man threatening a theater over not showing the Joker: Folie a Deux trailer, but fans have missed one crucial detail.

The upcoming Joker: Folie a Deux is quietly making waves as its marketing picks up. Just last week, fans were treated to a surprise new trailer that was preceded by an unsettling 24-hour live stream of an empty TV studio set.

But one video posted to X seems to show a fan who missed that livestream. In the short clip, a man threatens to call the police on a box office worker at a theater. The man seems to be upset because the showing he was at didn’t have the new Joker 2 trailer, for which he is demanding a refund.

“If you don’t give me a f***ing refund, I swear to god,” the man yells at the worker. “There’s 30 minutes of trailers. I wanted to see Lady Gaga in the Joker trailer. I will call the police on you.”

The video is quickly going viral on social media, with many mocking the man’s blow-up over the Joker 2 ad. Several fans are responding with derision, asking why he wouldn’t just watch the trailer on Youtube. Others, still, are using it to mock DC movie fans generally.

Of course, those social media users have missed one crucial detail: the video’s a prank.

Several users on X were quick to point out that the man’s outburst appeared to be outside of the IFC Center in New York. Fans were able to identify it by both the surrounding area and its unique sidewalk-facing box office.

The IFC Center is an art house theater that only shows independent and classic films. For instance, at the time of this writing, the box office schedule includes the 2023 indie comedy La Chimera, the 1984 musical epic Amadeus, and the 2000 French-Japanese drama In the Mood for Love.

The reality is that the IFC Center would not be showing a trailer for a newer movie like Joker 2, nor would anyone expect it to. It’s a funny bit that many were able to pick up on pretty quickly, but not enough to keep it from starting to trend up as if it were a real rant.

Viral drama notwithstanding, Joker: Folie a Deux is already receiving shockingly good buzz, with the head of the Venice Film Festival calling it “one of the most daring, brave, and creative films in recent American cinema.”

Like the first, though, it’s also getting its fair share of controversy, as director Todd Philip has explained why the franchise will never truly connect to the Batman mythos that inspired it.

Joker: Folie a Deux is in theaters on October 4, 2024. Until then, read about the biggest prediction for Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn, or the Batman villain hiding in the latest trailer.

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