Teen Who Injected Himself With a Crushed Butterfly

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About

The Teen Who Injected Himself With a Crushed Butterfly refers to the death of Brazilian teenager Davi Nunes Moreira (14) who died seven days after reportedly injecting himself with a crushed butterfly in mid-February 2025. The story was widely publicized by the New York Post on Twitter / X. The Post's viral tweet sparked quote tweets and memes about Moreira, largely aimed at his odd decision outlined in the shocking headline. An initial report from the Daily Mail speculated that Moreira was participating in an internet challenge, however, the claim is unfounded.

Origin

On February 16th, 2025, 14-year-old Davi Nunes Moreira passed away in a hospital in Planalto, Bahia, Brazil. A week earlier, he began feeling symptoms, starting with a sore leg and eventually vomiting. He was taken to the hospital and admitted to doctors that "he had kneaded a butterfly, removed a liquid from the insect and injected it into his own leg with the use of a syringe," according to local news outlet Mix Vale^[1] who reported on the case on February 18th.

On February 18th, Redditor^[10] Elegant-Panic7491 posted about Moreira's death to the subreddit /r/MorbidReality, gaining over 3,400 upvotes in two days.

Also on February 18th, 2025, the Daily Mail^[2] published an article about his death and amplified speculation from social media users about Moreira participating in an internet challenge. The claim is currently unfounded.

On February 18th and 19th, the New York Post^[3]^[4] published two articles about Moreira's death, leading with the headline, "Teen who died after injecting himself with butterfly remains spent 7 agonizing days in the hospital." The tabloid tweeted^[5] about its second article on February 19th, gaining over 22,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Spread

The New York Post's tweet jumpstarted memes and viral posts about Davi Nunes Moreira's death. For instance, on February 19th, 2025, X^[6] user @lmp3rfect quote tweeted the post, expressing confusion by writing, "I'm sorry but like what," gaining over 342,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Also on February 19th, X^[7] user @PaulSkallas (aka Lindy Man) quoted the post, writing, "Thank you for testing this out on yourself so present and future generations know what happens," receiving over 244,000 likes in a day (shown below).

On February 20th, 2025, X^[8] user @ShitpostGate tweeted an Is This a Pigeon? meme concerning the death of Moreira, gaining over 1,500 likes in a few hours (shown below).

On February 19th, X^[9] user @boneGPT posted an AI-generated video of Moreira frolicking with butterflies, crushing them up and then injecting himself with them, captioned, "Never do butterfly." It received over 1,800 likes in a day (shown below).

On February 19th, 2025, TikToker^[11] @arthurmorgansballhair posted about the viral story, joking about the tabloids' unfounded "internet challenge" claim. She wrote, "Why whenever a kid does something dumb and ends up dying from it articles blame 'bizarre internet challenge' like dawg NO ONE is trying inject butterfly remains and water into their bodies." The video amassed over 266,600 likes in a day (shown below).