Warning: This article contains graphic images that some readers may find disturbing.
Content creator Michael Chen, known online as McPlayGT, was attacked in Bowery, New York City, on Saturday after leaving a restaurant and was slashed on the back of the neck.
According to Chen, aged 17, he had left Phebe’s Tavern at 1:30 a.m. with nine females when he was allegedly approached by an unidentified male who asked how Chen had “pulled all these girls.” Chen explains in an Instagram post that they were using him as a fake boyfriend and that he had responded back saying, “Be yourself, and you’ll do well.”
After walking away, Chen was slashed by the attacker “less than 20 seconds later” on the side of his upper neck with “some type of razor.” The teen says the slash had just missed a vital artery and his spine.
Chen describes his attacker to NextShark as a 6’2” bearded black male wearing a blue puffer jacket with a chain on the night of the attack.
Although he has filed a police report, there has not been any update on the suspect or case.
Chen says that the attack has made him “see the world differently” and made him “appreciate life more than ever.” He also says that life “really isn’t the same” as before.
“As much as I want life to go back to normal, it really isn’t the same. Being near death was a moment I can never forget,” he says.
He also advises that others check their surroundings when going out in New York City and to “never judge a person by their looks.”
“I would advise others to look at their surroundings and stay in,” Chen says. “It’s a dangerous city even hitting minors, like myself [sic]. And also to never judge a person by their looks. This man was neither homeless nor was he under the influence — in my eyes — and he looked very blended with the crowd. Just be careful who your surroundings carry.”
Chen currently has 4.9 million TikTok followers and is well known for his prank videos involving his mother.
