June 30, 2016 is a day that will forever live in infamy in the life of New York-based model and Columbia University student Krit McClean. That’s the day he boarded to F train, got off at Times Square, then climbed on top of the TKTS booth and got butt naked.
“As I stared at the towering ads of Times Square, they started to send me subliminal messages,” 21-year-old McClean recalls in an article published by the New York Post. “‘Express Yourself,’ read the billboard for Express jeans. I obeyed. I immediately took off my clothes.”
McClean then proceeded to collect “old gum, cigarette butts and coins — and ate it all. It was my way of disposing of the garbage.”
Soon police arrived. McClean fended them off by chanting Kanye West lyrics and shouting “Donald Trump!”
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“I wasn’t really thinking; phrases were just coming out,” he recalls.
As police advanced the TKTS booth, McClean decided his only method of escape was to leap from atop the 18-foot booth to the pavement below.
“I hit the ground, but I felt no pain,” he says. “It felt like I was no longer inside my body. I pretended to be dead.”
He was quickly injected with a tranquilizer and taken to Bellevue Hospital.
McClean was in the throes of a manic episode. It had started about a week earlier when he quit smoking marijuana.
“I was working on an extensive project for the fashion magazine VMan the week I had my breakdown,” he says. “I wanted to be at my best, so I quit smoking marijuana. Not until after what happened did I realize I had been self-medicating for years.”
When McClean awoke in the hospital, he was shackled to his bed. He was the talk of the Internet. A day later, his naked photo would be on the cover of the New York Post with he headline “Ball Drop in Times Square.”
After spending time in the hospital’s psychiatric ward, McClean says he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He now takes medication and attends weekly therapy sessions, but he says he still has work to do.
“I’m still trying to fix the damage in other parts of my life,” he writes. “Ford Models no longer represents me. Columbia is holding a disciplinary hearing. I faced criminal charges in court. Most reactions have been punitive and don’t come from a place of understanding of mental illness.”
McClean concludes his essay with a call for more empathy in the world:
“We can all relate to being judged and misunderstood. We have all at some point been the ‘weird’ one, whether in the classroom, gym or office. But if we approach each other with empathy, openness and sensitivity instead of judgment, we might just learn from one another.”
h/t: New York Post
jdboston617
He’s looking for instant fame. I don’t buy the mental case one bit. Nice try.
Xzamilio
Did he fall so hard on the pavement that his ass caved into his body? Anyway, girl, no one cares. You’ve been forgotten already, save for a few gay blogs thirsting after your non-ass.
Dave Downunder
I doubt anyone will buy the marijuana story or the bipolar story. It’s amazing how many celebrities suddenly develop clinical depression or bipolar once hey have f@cked up in public and need an excuse. High profile sporting celebs do it over here all the time.
crowebobby
Ya, “collecting old gum, cigarette butts and coins — and eating them all” seems like the kind of thing a working model would do to enhance their image and gain a bit more attention. But since he doesn’t have any ass, it wouldn’t matter if he was certifiably insane and had a brain tumor the size of a grapefruit, would it? Thirsty no-ass little fa**ot needn’t come looking for any sympathy in our tree house.
charlie_jackpot
Joining in the flat ass thread
DDstar1me
What a shame. Seems like he’s a smart man that just has some mental issues. He’s still handsome. Hope he gets the help he needs. Still, what a waste.
DCguy
If he is legitimately bi-Polar and Fod dropped him and Columbia is having a disciplinary hearing, that seems a really shitty thing to do.
It also seems weird that they would do that, if he had a legitimate bi-polar diagnosis.
Ok, that said, I’m trying to figure out how you get legs that look that worked out, with apparently no ass development. Whats the story on that?!
jeff1370
The flat ass is because of the way he is standing. It’s typical the comments “went there”. I bet he was on bath salts.
Bob LaBlah
Sounds like the phone has stopped ringing and the landlord is banging on the door looking for his rent.
okiloki
Some of the most judgemental people seem to plague this comment section
jjunke
what a lot of nasty queens on here…commenting on his backside, not buying his mental breakdown story etc. His modelling agency has dropped him, he’s facing a disciplinary hearing at his university (what a nasty crowd they must be), had to appear in court and he will always face ridicule from some people including people commenting on Queerty. I hope he gets well and everything turns out ok for him.
Jonesy21
@okiloki: they really do lol they must have a perfect life
DCguy
@jjunke:
Except, since it is illegal to fire somebody if they’ve had a mental breakdown the fact that the school and agency are pursuing action seem to indicate that there is something else to the story.
Oh, and I LOVE when somebody like you comes on here and yells at everybody for being judgmental, but then call everybody on the site a homophobic slur.
Sounds like you have some self hatred issues if you think Queen is an insult on a gay board.
And lastly, to anybody who is saying that nobody should comment on a story about somebody acting crazy running around naked…..go F yourself. You clicked on the link, you commented, and yes, it is a very unusual story, so take your self-hating judgmental commentary and sit in your student apt. clutching your pearls.
jjunke
@DCguy: Im gay…if I want to call awful queens, queens, I’ll call them queens…. you obviously haven’t bothered to read some of the horrible comments about this guy..self hatred? not at all.. as for judgmental..student apt??? Im 30, I live in my own home, clutching pearls?? yelling at people?? look at yourself..now haven’t you got burgers to flip..queen.
Slash
I can’t imagine a manic episode in TS is anyone’s idea of a great way to kick off your 15 min of fame. Given his eventual bipolar diagnosis, I hope Columbia and Ford reinstate him. The guy needs help not more shaming, isolation and marginalization.