French YouTube duo wins Macron bet with hit COVID-19 song
YouTube logo at the YouTube Space LA in Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles, California, U.S., Oct. 21, 2015. (Reuters Photo)


As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the globe, countries are trying to find inventive ways to encourage people to abide by their preventative measures and restrictions. That was the thinking behind the idea when French President Emmanuel Macron made a bet with two French YouTube comedians. Now the popular duo has won their bet after getting more than 10 million views on YouTube with a song about social distancing.

Macron had challenged and dared the YouTube duo "Mcfly et Carlito," who have over 6 million subscribers on the social media platform YouTube, to make a video about the need to wear masks, disinfect hands and keep a safe distance to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As an incentive, he promised that if the video hit 10 million views then they could film their next project in the historical Elysee palace, the official residence of the president of the French Republic.

With nearly 13-million views as of Friday, the duo has easily won the challenge with a ukulele-backed song that satirizes and makes fun of people who ignore COVID-19 social distancing rules.

"I sneezed in my hand because my elbow was too far," one line of the lyrics goes.

Toward the end of the clip, Macron's face appears in the sky as he lists social distancing measures, and the comedians sing that the only way back to a world before social distancing is to apply social distancing now.

The video is not the duo's first COVID-19 related initiative, as last April they had raised 400,000 euros ($485,600) for French hospitals in an 11-hour live YouTube session.