‘TikTok guy’ to plead not guilty to anti-lockdown protest
The “TikTok guy” who rose to prominence for predicting NSW Covid-19 numbers will fight charges linked to anti-lockdown protests.
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Jon-Bernard Kairouz, otherwise known as “TikTok guy”, will plead not guilty to inciting others at a July 24 anti-lockdown protest in Sydney which was held in defiance of public health orders.
Bankstown Local Court heard on Tuesday the 24-year-old had indicated he will defend three charges when he appears at the Downing Centre next month along with 50 co-accused.
Mr Kairouz is charged with two counts of not comply with noticed direction/Covid-19 and encourage commission of crime.
The comedian, who shot to fame when he accurately predicted the daily Covid-19 case numbers for five days in a row on TikTok, allegedly spoke to a crowd of thousands during the protest.
He had even dubbed himself “the people’s premier” as he spoke to a cheering sea of people waving Australian flags and holding signs decrying masks and vaccines during the protest.
“I must say I’ve crunched the numbers, I don’t think the cases are going to go up tomorrow,” he told the crowd.
“But from what I’ve calculated there’s over 50,000 people here today.”
He told an actual crowd of around 3500 in Sydney’s CBD that it was “time for freedom”.
The next day, NSW police detectives attended Mr Kairouz’s home and issued him with a PIN (penalty infringement notice) for attending the protest.
Footage released by police showed him dressed in a blue NSW Rugby League team T-shirt with the name of the club’s sponsor “Brydens Lawyers” emblazoned on it, while standing outside a home in the Sydney suburb of Belmore.
Mr Kairouz, who appeared nonchalant and told the detectives to “take it easy”, later deleted footage from the CBD protest from his Instagram account.
Just days earlier, Mr Kairouz had spectacularly claimed the NSW Premier changed a daily Covid case figure to discredit him.
This was after his winning streak of daily Covid predictions came to a sudden halt.
He also said in an interview that a public servant has been wrongly sacked over his video “predictions’ in which he accurately announced NSW’s daily Covid cases over five straight days.
Mr Kairouz claimed “simple maths” was behind his accuracy and said there would be 109 new local Covid-19 cases on July 19, but only 98 were announced.
Reports swirled before that day’s press conference that a “trap” had been set inside NSW Health amid speculation someone was leaking the figures to Mr Kairouz.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said he was disappointed by the leaks but denied a “sting” had smoked out the culprit.
Since Mr Kairouz’s last prediction of 109, daily case numbers in NSW have soared into the thousands and Premier Berejiklian has said vaccination rates not daily case numbers are now the focus.
He will appear at the Downing Centre Local Court on October 26.
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