‘Baby Shark’ attack: Florida city blares out annoyingly catchy children’s tunes to keep homeless people away
- West Palm Beach has seen its homeless population drop by 24 per cent in the past year, according to figures released last month by the mayor’s office
In a bid to deter homeless people from sleeping near its chic events centre, a Florida city has been blaring aggravating children’s tunes all night long.
For weeks, West Palm Beach has pressed play at dusk on the mind-numbingly catchy bops Baby Shark and Raining Tacos next to its Lake Pavilion at Centennial Square Park, a tactic criticised as not addressing the causes of homelessness.
The bane of parents and teachers worldwide, the wildly infectious song Baby Shark soared from the children’s YouTube realm to the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year, buoyed by a dance craze and hypnotically colourful video.
In West Palm Beach the song’s signature “doo doo doos” ring across the coastal lawn before small voices sing “it’s the end”.
But it is not the end.
Next up is Raining Tacos, in which “lettuce and shell, cheese and meat” fall from the sky.