A content creator who mystifyingly received complaints about "adult content" noises coming from his apartment prompted laughter online after revealing the unexpected source of the moaning sounds.
Jiayang Li, who lives in Seattle, was stunned when his landlord sent an email complaining about "the audibility of adult content" coming from his apartment.
In a video with 2.3 million views, Li shared the email, which had the subject line: "Reminder: Maintaining a Considerate Environment for All."
The landlord's email explained they had recently had a complaint about sounds of "adult content" coming from the apartment, asking him to refrain from playing the sound too loudly.
Li was stunned to get the email, especially as he couldn't recall any times he had played "adult content" loudly in his apartment.
"I was just confused because I thought the complaint was made to the wrong tenant," Li told Newsweek.
It wasn't until he sat down to continue playing his new video game that he realized what had happened.
One of the characters in the recently released The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game makes a somewhat unusual noise.
"It clicked," said Li in the video. "Every time you talk to the fairy, it sounds like this." In the video, he played the moaning sound the game character makes.
"I was playing the game then realized the sound could be mistaken for adult content," Li said.
After the misunderstanding, he emailed to explain what was actually causing the sounds: "I have replied with an explanation and attached video of the game, and the landlord replied, and they were pretty understanding," he said.
In thousands of comments on the now viral video, people were left in stitches at the misunderstanding.
"It's Nintendo's fault for making the fairies so sus," joked one commenter. While another said: "This is the most accidentally wholesome thing ever."
"Put a sign on your front door that says, 'I'm not watching 'you know', I'm just playing Zelda,' suggested another commenter.
The content creator wasn't the only one who had noticed the almost NSFW sounds of the fairy in the new Zelda game as other viewers of the video shared their own experiences with the game.
"Lol I always turn down the volume when I visit a fairy," said one TikToker. While another said: "The *bombastic side eye* from me when my husband first found the fairies."
"I just thought it's a funny situation that I wanted to share with my followers," said Li. "I'm glad everyone got a laugh out of this awkward situation."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Alice Gibbs is a Newsweek Senior Internet Trends & Culture Reporter based in the U.K. For the last two years ... Read more
