The costumed star of a viral video of the “Easter Bunny” throwing punches in defense of a woman on a sidewalk in downtown Orlando, Florida, on Sunday night has been identified — and, according to law enforcement, he’s got a lengthy criminal record that includes multiple armed robberies and a warrant out for his arrest in New Jersey.
In a wild scene caught on camera Sunday night, a man dressed in an Easter Bunny costume intervened in an apparent conflict between a man and a woman that broke out on a downtown Orlando sidewalk. The costume-wearing man reportedly was attempting to protect the woman after the man bumped into her near the SAK Comedy Lab. Police quickly arrived on the scene to question those involved, but no arrests were made. The most significant fallout from the incident was the video of the bizarre situation that instantly went viral (video via NBC News):
The #HEROBUNNY’s meteoric rise to fame included a new Instagram account, “BadBunnyof19,” that celebrates the costume crusader as “Protecting The People!” and the leader of the apparently newly formed #BUNNYGANG. (A few Bad Bunny Instagram posts below.) But Bad Bunny’s rise to fame has also brought to light his real name, Antoine McDonald, and with it, his criminal record.
“After the video went viral, McDonald spoke with several news outlets and even created an Instagram account to celebrate his newfound fame, leading multiple local police departments to speak out about the costumed vigilante’s criminal past,” AOL.com reports.
McDonald, 20, is a fugitive from New Jersey who is wanted in connection to a vehicle burglary in South Brunswick that occurred in September 2018, The Tampa Bay Times reported Tuesday. He’s also a “person of interest” in two armed robberies and a car-jacking in the state.
“Pasco County authorities discovered that there’s a ‘non-extraditable failure to appear’ warrant out of New Jersey for Antoine McDonald, 20, of Zephyrhills,” WFTV9 reports, citing an incident report issued by Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. “Authorities said McDonald was a person of interest in a carjacking and two armed robberies in Pasco County, according to the Sheriff’s Office. He had also been arrested in January on charges of having a fraudulent ID and using the name Hudhayfuh Roberts.”
Along with the New Jersey incidents, McDonald’s record reportedly includes arrests in Delaware in 2017 for two armed robberies on another holiday, New Year’s Day. He was ultimately “charged with two counts of robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, second-degree conspiracy and tampering with physical evidence in relation to the incident,” AOL reports. Just a few weeks after being arrested for using a fake ID to rent a U-Haul in New Jersey in 2019, the outlet notes, McDonald was charged with reckless driving in Florida.
Below are some of the posts on Bad Bunny’s “lit” Instagram page: