A monkeypox outbreak in New York led to a woman being cruelly shamed by subway workers and others on social media.
Unidentified stranger captured Lilly Simon, 33 years old, riding the subway in New York City. She had bumps on her exposed legs and arms. The video was then posted on TikTok with a caption that included a monkey emoji and a question mark emoji, which many took to mean that she might have monkeypox.
“I don’t have monkeypox,” Simon told Inside Edition.
She suffers from a skin condition called NF1, a genetic condition that causes tumors to grow on her skin.
“They’re fleshy, they’re soft, it’s not like monkeypox,”Inside Edition was informed by her.
The stranger on the train recorded her, she claimed. She says that she received a call the next day that rocked her world.
“My sister called me and she was very upset,”She remembered. “I saw the video and I knew people I know would see it and it’s not how I wanted to be represented.”
She said she felt small, powerless, insignificant and irrelevant because of the video.
Simon, who is a project manager and responded with her own video. She described years of stares, and nefarious comments.
“Of course, I’ve always had to deal with people, like the people in the comment section of the video and of course the person who posted this,” she said in her video.
The man who posted the video, Jahmali Ellison, told Inside Edition he would like to apologize to Simon for his actions.
Simon added: “I am happy” “I love myself,” but added that “hopefully [the person who posted the video]He has learned his lesson.
More than 6,300 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the United States. Some cities have declared emergency, and the World Health Organization has declared that the virus is spreading worldwide.