The Empire State Building siren lit up Manhattan's night sky on Monday night, reflecting that New York City is at the center of the world's coronavirus emergency. The iconic skyscraper was lit like an ambulance siren as a tribute to the emergency workers putting themselves in harm's way to fight COVID-19.
Building officials wrote: “We'll never stop shining for you. Starting tonight through the COVID-19 battle, our signature white lights will be replaced by the heartbeat of America with a white and red siren in the mast for heroic emergency workers on the front line of the fight. At 9PM, NYC's theme song will play in our lights as our Alicia Keys‘ ‘Empire State of Mind' music-to-light show with iHeartRadio syncs to the song live on Z100's Elvis Duran Show.”
Twitter users had a lot to say about it, and many were triggered.
Wrote one user: “Emergency signal atop the Empire State Building in NYC tonight Seriously If you're trying to scare us & keep us inside, this surely does the trick That was not oddly terrifying. It was justifiably terrifying. Apocalypse movies are certainly missing this.”
Another wrote: “Empire State building making me cry … it's beautiful but so scary.”
Some said it reminded them of Gotham City in the Batman movies, another asked how the Drudge Report got permission to use the lights.
Who put @DRUDGE in charge of the Empire State Building lights? https://t.co/f2OpbUDGIg
— انا (@Aydin_Adam) March 31, 2020
It kinda fucks me up that the Empire State Building has a built in red light super villain function https://t.co/tmsxkN6d5Y
— Kels (@RealNickelsack) March 31, 2020