New York City-based actor Yoni Lotan stars in a sketch video where he gives out yellow and red cards to pedestrians in New York who commit various infractions. Check it out.He took some time to answer a few questions it over Gchat.VICE Sports: Where'd you get the idea for this? And please don't tell me this was some stunt for a big brand.Yoni Lotan: This is original, hand to God.I shot a video during the last World Cup called where I walked around and just blew the vuvuzela in people's faces and cheered for obscure things. So I thought about what was happening this time, and, well, besides the high-powered action of goals and headers, my other favorite thing to watch in the World Cup has been the arguments players have with refs. They're just having this heated conversation in the view of the world. That was always funny to me, but the specific idea came about when I was walking in the subway and some dude just stopped abruptly to check his phone. Like, right in front of me and I just stopped and stood there and it was only me, so I looked around and rolled my eyes and huffed, but the dude didn't do anything. It was so frustrating. That is so frustrating. So I thought that if I dress up as an authority figure I could teach that jerk a lesson, but impersonating a cop is illegal, so I had to think of something else. That's when I realized there are so many things that people would get carded for in this city.VICE: Did you get hassled by the police for filming without a permit? Or did anyone not appreciate what you were doing? Basically, I want to know if anyone threatened you or swore at you. Confrontations.Yoni: Dude. It's so crazy. The majority of people were into it, laughing and even playing, but every once in a while people would just flip out. There was this one lady who I red-carded for asking me "What I was doing." And I didn't really have a reason and just red-carded her.VICE: Naturally. That's Refereeing 101.Yoni: This woman was a camp counselor and had, like, 8 children around her. And she was upset, like "Why are you doing this?!" and I told her "You know what you did, ma'am" and that didn't help. She kept pressing me, like "Are you serious?! Tell me why! Why?!" and then the kids started crying. Like, all of them. I ran off, but I think she went to the cops.It's weird: I loved having this costume on because I got to be so mean to people and they loved it. For the most part. The best part of this was breaking people down. Like the Jamba Juice guy. I yelled at him for drinking Jamba Juice and he got defensive and, like, broke down. Then finally he said "My girlfriend got it for me!" C'mon. Own up to it!VICE: Woof.Yoni: It's just so funny that if someone blows a whistle and tells you you're doing something wrong you feel like you are doing something wrong. That girl on the subway? She was taking a photo of me and I caught her and called her out on her shit in the loudest way possible. I felt like a FUN POLICE OFFICER.VICE: So it's comedy as much as it is a psych experiment.Yoni: Yeah, man. I need to get some funding, there's a research paper here.VICE: OK, let's wrap it up. Who's going to win the World Cup?Yoni: Those strong Germans. They terrify me.VICE: There you have it. Thanks, man.
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