An aspiring musician was determined to get through a song to post online—even after being distracted in the worst way possible.
Ethan Pugh, originally from Ohio and now living in New York City to follow his musical, acting and dancing ambitions, regularly posts clips of him singing to his TikTok account, @ethanpugh51.
He recently got a big break, with one of his clips racking up close to 3 million views and almost 400,000 likes, as he performed Stevie Wonder’s “Knocks Me Off My Feet.”
In the video, he barely gets through the first line of the song before an enormous bug crawls out of a hole in the ceiling and falls right on top of him.
The 26-year-old told Newsweek: “When I moved into the apartment there was no fire alarm in my room, just the hole. This is usually a red flag I’m sure, but I’m a struggling artist and this spot checked off all the ‘more important’ boxes when it came to surviving in the city.”
“Fortunately, bugs have not really been an issue at my spot in New York, so this visitor came as a surprise.”
That surprise was caught on video, as the clip, shared on January 27, shows Pugh eagerly belting out the song when the bug falls on him—but instead of stopping, he instead swears, while still in tune.
He continues, still to the tune of the song: “A cockroach just fell down from my ceiling and it’s on my bed. Where is it now?”
The camera then flips, showing the insect inside a pair of shorts on the bed, and finally Pugh stops singing, instead saying: “Oh my gosh. You’re kidding me,” panning upwards to show the hole the bug fell out of.
This performance came after multiple takes of the song, when Pugh decided “this is gonna be the one, I can’t do any more.”
“Not even one line in and the cockroach—or water bug? Palmetto bug? I’ve been told a few names at this point from the comment section—falls from the ceiling, brushing my arm before landing on the bed.”
“The lyrics just flew out at that point, and honestly I have never sung to get through a fight or flight situation before, so I think adrenaline may have just taken over!”
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development recommends using non-chemical methods as a first defense against household pests, including cockroaches.
Keeping areas clean and uncluttered, putting food in tightly sealed containers and trash in a closed container, and sealing entry points, can all help keep pests out of your home.
TikTok users flocked to the clip, one writing: “OK but u ate up those vocals,” and another admitting there were “tears streaming down my face,” and one asking outright: “HOW DID YOU KEEP SINGING?”
“I’m genuinely impressed you didn’t panic,” another wrote. And one asked: “Don’t leave us hanging Ethan did you get him or not!”
And, speaking to Newsweek, Pugh confirmed he did—after a long battle.
The roach first ran and disappeared under Pugh’s bed, but “by the grace of God” reappeared moments later.
“This was an emotional moment for me because I had sort of come to terms that I wasn’t going to be able to catch this thing and I wasn’t going to be getting any sleep for a while,” Pugh said.
He chased the roach through his room, trying to “stomp” on it, and the battle came to an end when it ran and hid in his closet.
“I’m not proud to have ended this roach’s life,” he admitted, “but I’m definitely sleeping soundly because I did.”
But when one commenter told him “this bug was meant to fall during your video so that you would be discovered,” he told Newsweek “that really stuck with me.”
“This roach deserved a thank you… not the underside of a shoe.”
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