OFF BEAT: Restaurant's mistletoe drone apparently accepts tips
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Love is in the air this holiday season. At least, it was before it spun out of control and clipped a photographer’s nose.
As part of TGI Friday’s “mistletoe drones” promotion, two remote-controlled helicopters, toting mistletoe and kiss cams, flew around the chain’s Brooklyn location on Dec. 4 urging diners to “come together this Christmas,” according to the company’s “#Togethermas” marketing campaign.
However, an unsuccessful drone demonstration left a local photographer with a bleeding nose instead of a kiss, according to reports.
As drone operator David Quinones, founder of aerial photography and video company SkyCamUSA in New York, attempted to land one of the drones on a Brooklyn Daily reporter’s hand, a helicopter blade spun into the nearby photographer’s face and “literally chipped off” the tip of her nose, according to the Brooklyn Daily’s report.
A spokeswoman for TGI Friday’s told the newspaper that other mistletoe drone events in New York and Texas went off without a hitch. And in a statement obtained by Time, a spokeswoman said, “This was an isolated event during a demonstration for the reporter and photographer only, given by the licensed operator of the drone during the last day of this particular promotion. Of course, safety is our first priority, and we are sorry that this isolated incident occurred.”
Following the incident, Mr. Quinones reportedly told the Brooklyn Daily that “if people get hurt, they’re going to come regardless.”
“People get hurt in airplanes, they still fly,” he added. “There is a risk involved.”
As if making out over a plate of garlic-marinated chicken wasn’t risky enough…
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