A Massachusetts street performer has proved that sometimes the best way to counter a protester is to become one, badly, and on purpose. Apparently, his method was a full giraffe costume and a working megaphone, and it turned into the kind of clip social media was built for.
The man behind the costume is Rob Potylo, a Boston-area musician and comedian who performs as Robby Roadsteamer. Potylo has built a reputation combining hip-hop, parody, improvisation, and satire, regularly appearing at rallies and demonstrations outside government facilities in his signature giraffe costume.
This time, the target was Jake Lang, one of roughly 1,600 rioters granted clemency by the president on his first day in office for their roles in the events of January 6. He was seen outside the Plymouth courthouse during proceedings connected to the Lindsay Clancy case.
According to the video and Roadsteamer’s own social media posts, he shadowed Lang with a megaphone, singing and making exaggerated movements while staying in Lang’s personal space without appearing to make contact. He can be heard shouting “pumped by Trump” at the top of his lungs, that too on a microphone.
At one point, Lang reportedly complained to a nearby Massachusetts State Trooper, calling the encounter “harassment,” to which Rob replied that he hates dudes.
Roadsteamer later celebrated the stunt online, writing that “Jake Lang came to Massachusetts today and got ACDC and the Giraffe.”
The protest happened while Lang was reportedly holding a sign about the Salem witch trials outside the courthouse. Hundreds of people, mostly women who said they supported Clancy’s efforts to get postpartum mental health treatment, had also gathered there.
The footage later went viral after it was shared on r/PublicFreakout.
Internet Reacts to Massachusetts Giraffe vs. Jake Lang Video
Reaction underneath the clip leaned heavily in the giraffe’s favor. “Robby does good work. Good, loud, hilarious work,” one commenter wrote, while another leaned into the wardrobe choice, joking, “Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear giraffe costumes. And a G-string.” A third framed it as poetic justice, writing, “You want to counter a nuisance protester like Jake? You send Robbie to show him how it feels.”
Some commenters used the moment to vent about Lang directly rather than focus on the costume. “How is Jake Lang not in actual jail at this point? Like, I know, so don’t tell me, but this smug *expletive* should be locked up,” one wrote. Another just wanted the bit to become a permanent arrangement: “He should honestly just follow him around all the time. You can tell how much he hates it. Haha!!”
The rally outside the courthouse coincided with the Lindsay Clancy trial, where the Duxbury mother has pleaded not guilty to killing her three children in 2023, a case that has repeatedly drawn crowds, counter-protesters, and now, apparently, a giraffe, to the same stretch of sidewalk in Massachusetts.
