They say that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, which is probably exactly what Sea of Thieves' Community Video Manager, Jon McFarlane, was thinking as a monkey crawled up on his shoulder during Monday’s live stream, and proceeded to vomit all over him on camera.
To add authenticity to the announcement that player pets will be included in the Pirate Emporium update, Jon introduced a live squirrel monkey, named Antonio, at the beginning of the stream. He was joined by animal handler Barbara, who said that Antonio had been habituated to be able to visit people outside the habitat.
Rare executive producer Joe Neate commented on how well-behaved Antonio was, and the monkey seemed to take a liking to Jon, continually returning to his shoulders over the course of the stream.
Then, while seated on Jon’s right shoulder, vomited all over the front of his shirt. A little bit got on his face as well. Jon, for his part, seemed to take it about as well as could be expected for a man covered in monkey barf, and tried to keep a straight face as he accepted a napkin thrown to him from off-camera.
Antonio wasn’t about to leave the job half-done, however, and hopped his way onto Jon’s other shoulder, vomiting there as well. At that point, Jon broke down laughing.
“I’ve never had regurgitated mealworm on me before, and it was a great choice to wear a gray t-shirt,” Jon commented while trying to clean himself off.
The Sea of Thieves official Twitter account didn't shy away from the incident, instead choosing to highlight it with an animated GIF.
This wasn’t the only monkey-related humiliation that Jon had to deal with during the stream. Later, while still perched on the ever-patient Jon’s shoulders, Antonio can be seen pooping on him.
At this point, Jon was apparently completely past caring, since he didn’t even comment on the droppings that rolled their way down the front of his shirt and onto his legs.
But, as far as publicity goes, now all of you know that pets are coming soon to Sea of Thieves. Perhaps, to Jon, getting the word out was worth the indignity.