Tour Pokes Fun at YouTube Couple to Raise Money for Chicago Neighborhood Group

CHICAGO — We might be living in an age of short attention spans, but that doesn't mean the internet doesn't have a good memory.

Remember Brianna and Jaelin White, the Phoenix couple with the too-on-the-nose last name who posted a YouTube video in August about their move to Chicago? In the video, the Whites, 18-year-old newlyweds, described their experiences while living for a day in the city's Edgewater neighborhood.

What started out as a wondrous adventure filled with exotic discoveries—Brianna described the "el" train as "kind of like a subway for those of you who aren't familiar. Or it's like a tram," inexplicably putting air quotes around "subway"—quickly turned into a remake of The Warriors starring Barbie and Ken. It began with a trip on Chicago's "subway" or "tram," involved an unsavory encounter with a homeless man who followed them to Subway (the sandwich chain, not the city's magical conveyance system), and it ended with an alleged assault by a faux-Uber driver.

The entire debacle soured the Whites on Chicago, and the couple pulled up stakes and moved back to Arizona.

Of course, online commenters—and even news outlets like New York magazine—responded to the Whites' naivete and sheltered sensibilities in a fashion that some might say lacked empathy:

But one Edgewater resident found a way to throw shade at the Whites and do some good for the neighborhood at the same time. Kevin Fergus, who has lived in Edgewater for three months, set up The Brianna and Jaelin Walking Tour, which took participants who came out Tuesday, Sept. 6, through a re-creation of the couple's "42 terrifying minutes" in the community.

"See all the famous sites like Subway and the CVS parking lot, as well as all the brunch places, yoga studios, and coffee shops that should have told the Whites that Edgewater was a dangerous neighborhood," the tour's Facebook states. "Bring your wallet, because everybody's either going to Chipotle or Arizona when the tours over."

Fergus asked participants for donations, and the proceeds went to Care For Real, an Edgewater organization that provides food, clothing and counseling services to those in need. The tour, which even included a real "fake" Uber driver, raised $308 for the group, not counting donations that might have been made online.

Back in Arizona, the Whites are still dealing with the aftermath from all the media attention their video brought them. So the couple created another YouTube post to update their fans on what's been happening and explain that they don't hate Chicago.

"A lot of those people don't really understand our story so it's easy to hate us and assume different things," Jaelin said in the post, talking about the media and online reaction to the couple's first video.

"We love Chicago. … We have nothing against it," Brianna added.

At the end of the Whites' Chicago video that gave America a summertime distraction from police shootings and a Donald Trump presidential candidacy, Brianna is reminded of a quote she recently her that now made sense to her: "We plan. God laughs."

Maybe the more appropriate quote should be: "People make ridiculous online videos. God and the internet laugh."

Jaelin and Brianna White (photo via YouTube)

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