The James Weird Awards

The James Weird Awards: Albino Wings, Crazed Deer, and $5 Tap Water

What else can happen in a week that’s seen people consuming “custard-like” horse semen, deep-fried Kool-Aid balls, and Snooki-sanctioned pickle-print flip-flops? So much! It’s all in the James Weird Awards, straight ahead.

• A Utah man was charged with animal cruelty after a video of him eating a living baby rat surfaced on Facebook. PETA alerted local authorities, who recognized the man and arrested him. [AP]

• A chef in Australia has sparked outrage by charging customers $5 for tap water. He insists his reasons are environmental: The restaurant recently stopped carrying bottled water, instead purchasing a “$6,000 Italian-made water system that filters, chills, and carbonates tap water.” Refills are free. [Reuters]

• A restaurant employee in Virginia was arrested and charged with assault after he locked his co-worker in the establishment’s walk-in freezer. Fortunately, the victim was able to text another co-worker and was quickly rescued. [NBC Washington]

• A golf course in upstate New York was temporarily shut down when seven employees were surreptitiously fed pot brownies during their morning break. The dizzy and disoriented workers were sent to an area hospital, while the man responsible for the incident was promptly arrested. [Woodstock Sentinel-Review]

• Police near Toronto were forced to shoot and kill a deer inside a Subway restaurant when the unwieldy animal crashed through the store’s window. This happened one day after a similar incident at a coffee shop in Halifax, where another deer “smashed through the front window, leaped onto the tables, and ran into patrons.” [National Post]

• A pair of brothers with albinism are suing a Winnipeg restaurant chain for its offensive “albino wings” promotion. This is the second time the two parties have butted heads: Nineteen years ago, the siblings lodged a complaint against the company for naming its signature pale ale “Albino Rhino.” [National Post]

• A Wisconsin man was picked up by authorities after he drunkenly passed out in his car at a Taco Bell parking lot. Police say the man was “slumped with his head to his knees, drooling, and snoring” when they found him. [OC Weekly]

The James Weird Awards: Albino Wings, Crazed Deer, and $5 Tap Water