A TikTok presence in Slippery Rock agreed to make The Rocket privy to their social media strategies.
The so-called “Slippery Rock Urinator” has been roaming around campus since late August and has become somewhat of a phenomenon at Slippery Rock. Though a faceless figure, the Urinator has amassed over 2,500 followers on TikTok and has hundreds of thousands of views across their videos.
Under the condition that their anonymity remains intact, the Urinator agreed to an interview to reveal a bit of behind-the-scenes to his content.
The Urinator did say he uses a water bottle to spray water on things around campus in his videos, as well as noting he was contacted by campus police and had a meeting with student affairs.
“I can confirm that the university is investigating and if it is determined that the student code of conduct has been violated, then charges or other sanctions would be levied,” Associate Director of University Marketing and Communication Justin Zackal said.
Question (Q): Would Mr. Urinator be the correct way to describe you?
Urinator (U): Correct.
Q: You are a student of Slippery Rock, correct?
U: Correct, I am a student.
Q: What class year are you at SRU?
U: I am currently a freshman here at Slippery Rock.
Q: Where did the inspiration for this endeavor come from?
U: My friends and I noticed a lot of the New York state schools had these accounts that were posting and getting lots of views, and we noticed there weren’t any for Pennsylvania at all, let alone Slippery Rock. So, we spent the night setting up the account and getting a profile picture ready. Sure enough, the account was born, and we were the first account in Pennsylvania to create one of these.
Q: Have you been communicating with the urinators at other schools?
U: I have spoken to a few of them. We had a group chat for a bit where everyone had said they were inspired by me and wanted to make similar videos. Then everyone left one day. The only one I still speak to is the one from East Stroudsburg University.
Q: Regarding the profile picture, is there a reason you chose Rocky The Rock over Rocky The Lion?
U: We didn’t want to use the current mascot. We wanted to maintain separation as an entity. So, we went with the old mascot. Also, there were just so many better photos to make our profile picture out of Rocky The Rock.
Q: Is the urinator a single person or is it a group?
U: It is mainly two of us. I am the one who is featured in the videos and records it, but the two of us plan where and when we want to do it, and we tend to go together.
Q: How do you pick what you are going to urinate on?
U: I like to go for a lot of walks to stretch my legs and get a lot of steps in. As we walk around, we’ll be like “wow this is a really beautiful spot, this is somewhere we’ve got to hit,” or “I think it would be really funny to feature this thing at this angle.” We talk about it and think it through to feature new locations people didn’t think of yet. We always try to top ourselves each time.
Q: Do you have any dream targets you would like to hit?
U: My main goal with this is that I never want to trespass or get into anything illegal. Every spot we look into is always something anyone can go to. The one place I’ve always wanted to hit is the water tower.
Q: But that is fenced off, correct?
U: Correct. Unfortunately, that is one of those bucket lists items that will never be achieved. We’ve done Old Main and that one was really high on my list. Other than that, we kind of think of spots as we go. I have lots of video ideas, but not necessarily locations for them.
Q: What is the best time to make your videos?
U: Nighttime tends to be the best. I like the cold, so it’s nice having a chill breeze as we walk around.
Q: It is usually dark in your current content. Would you ever do it during the day?
U: I have considered daytime and think I am going to do it at some point in the future.
Q: You kind of sparked the creation of what’s being called the Slippery Rock University Universe (SRUU). What has your involvement been with the other characters who are looking for you?
U: I have only ever spoken to the Slippery Rock Batman. There was a moment a few weeks ago when people thought I was retiring, so he reached out to see if that was true. I denied those claims. When they all first popped up, it was insane. I couldn’t stop laughing. I thought the fact that someone cared enough to put on a costume and try to find me was hilarious. It’s truly incredible.
Q: Does your mother know about this page? If so, what does she think?
U: I actually ended up telling her about all this around a week ago, just because I like to catch her up on my life and I’ve withheld this from her for a bit. She told me what any mom would say: to stay out of trouble, to be smart, but to have fun as well.
Q: Do you have a girlfriend? What does she think of this?
U: I do. Her face was hilarious when I told her. She didn’t believe me. She thought I was messing with her, lying and just trying to take credit for it. Once she realized it was actually me, I think she stared at me with her mouth gaped open for like four minutes straight. She finds it equally funny giving similar sentiments as my mom.
Q: Is it real urine in the videos?
U: No. None of these videos are real. I use a water bottle and yellow food dye. It cleans up very easily. It just washes away with the rain.
Q: Are any University authorities aware of the account? Have they talked to you at all?
U: I have been spoken to about it. In a meeting about it they asked I just let people know it’s water because people were concerned it was real urine. It was getting reported, and staff were having to go out and unnecessarily clean stuff, which was never my goal. It’s a skit and was made to be fun for everybody. They just want me to be smart about it.
Q: Do you have a 5 year plan for the account?
U: I’m kind of playing it all by ear. Unfortunately, the trend is slowly dying out. When I started my account I was getting hundreds of thousands of views, then tens of thousands…now I’m lucky if I break the thousand views mark. Now I’m just doing it for the love of the game. I enjoy it. I get my steps in. The whole thing creates conversation. I remember when the first two or three videos went out, and anytime I went to the dining halls or my classes on campus it’s all I heard people talking about, even my professors. It was just so surreal and I don’t want something like that to end just because TikTok decides it’s over. At the moment, I’m going to keep this up as long as I can. Maybe one day, if I think it’s necessary, I’ll either pass it off to someone else or end it the right way. But, for now, I don’t really have a 5-year plan.
Q: Have you had any encounters with people that have spoken about the Urinator to you without any knowledge that it is actually you?
U: More than I can count. There are a lot of people who are like “I can’t believe this guy, have you seen his videos?”, and I just play dumb and say, “Oh wow really? I haven’t seen those yet. I can’t believe someone on campus is doing that.”
While the future of the Urinator may be uncertain, the impact he has had on our school and community is undeniable. The Rocket thanks the Urinator for agreeing to this conversation.
Check out WSRU-TV on YouTube for more coverage of the Urinator, including the full-length interview.
