Speaking to the guy who went on a viral quarantine date via drone
Shared on TikTok, Jeremy Cohen’s romantic efforts amid social distancing are a welcome escape from all the bad news right now
Everyone’s feeling the effects of the social distancing introduced to curb coronavirus. Whether they’re cooped up with their family, separated from friends, or just in need of some IRL company to share their seventh bowl of pasta this week. It can be a lot of pressure.
As for meeting anyone new, that’s also looking very unlikely, as many cities have issued self-isolation measures or enforced a straight-up lockdown. Sure, there are still a range of ways to meet people online (see: the Love, Sex, and Dating section of Dazed’s list of things to do during quarantine) but sometimes meeting virtually just doesn’t cut it.
Self-proclaimed hopeless romantic Jeremy Cohen has dating from a distance covered, though. At least according to the series of videos the New York-based photographer posted to social media over the last few days, beginning with a TikTok that shows him noticing a girl (Tori Cignarella, who was also a few days into working from home, as shared in an interview with Time) dancing on a nearby rooftop.
Cohen waved at her, and eventually sent his number over to her rooftop via a piece of paper stuck to his drone. Cue: a viral meet-cute (pun very much intended) which has been much-appreciated by people desperate for a bit of romance, if only because it’s a welcome distraction from a frankly depressing news cycle.
“I'm not much of a planner,” Cohen tells Dazed, explaining what was going through his mind as he sent the drone over to make contact. “So I never envisioned it to be a series. But once I was editing the first part, I realized I could make a second part by having a ‘date’.”
This “date” – two tables laid out on his balcony and her roof, respectively, with a little help from FaceTime – was also shared on TikTok, along with some photos marking the occasion on other platforms.
Of course, part three was to follow, featuring a second date and Cohen’s “boldest move yet” involving a large, inflatable bubble.
“I actually ordered the bubble a couple of days before I met Tori for a possible conceptual art project I would do,” Cohen says. “I didn't really have a plan, just thought it would be cool to do something with it.”
“I think the day of the first date is when I received the bubble in the mail and thought it would make for a perfect second date.”
Reader, it did. After inflating the bubble and sealing himself inside, Cohen was able to go on a walk with Cignarella and present her with flowers, although he couldn’t hand them over due to the whole social distancing and being-trapped-in-a-giant-bubble thing.
Proof of the lockdown love story’s success comes in this video too, as they’re stopped by police, who recognise the couple from the news. Predictably, such exposure has people asking for another instalment, and Cohen says that a part four is likely to come, though he admits: “It'll be a challenge to one-up the bubble!”
As for everyone else? The new-found expert on social-distancing dating says there’s hope, and emphasises the importance of reaching out to people.
“Just because we have to social distance doesn't mean we have to be socially distant,” Cohen reassures. “We have all this technology to communicate in a myriad of different ways.”
“Tell your loved ones you love them, send some virtual hugs, and be kind to one another just because we can all use a little extra kindness right now to make the world go ’round.”
DMT.NEWS
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Thom Waite, Khareem Sudlow
