Do not turn that frown upside down. A horse plush toy has gone viral in China thanks to a serendipitous mistake by a factory worker. 

The mouths on a batch of the toys were mistakenly sewn on the wrong way around, creating a small army of sad-faced “crying” toys that have captured hearts as a mascot for the Lunar New Year. 

The horses were designed as happy-faced toys to mark the upcoming holiday on February 17, the start of the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac.

A customer who received the defective product decided to keep it, posted about it online, and from there, the “crying horse” found fame.

The “crying horse” hashtag had been used on Douyin, China’s domestic version of TikTok, more than 200 million times by Wednesday, and garnered more than 100 million views as a trending topic on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.

The horse’s forlorn expression appears to have resonated with Chinese social media users, who’ve been bringing the plush toy to work and school to express discontent with a relentless work culture.

The toy is red, an auspicious color in Chinese culture, and its body is decorated with a golden embroidery wishing owners to “get rich quickly.” One of the toys costs 25 Chinese yuan, or about $4, according to Chinese media reports. 

The toy is available in both the frowning, and the original smiling version, and many people have taken to buying them as a pair.

“People joked that the crying horse is how you look at work, while the smiling one is how you look after work,” Zhang Huoqing, the store owner who first sold the toy, told the Reuters news agency. Zhang’s store is located in Yiwu, home to China’s largest wholesale market for small commodities. 

Since it took off online, customers from South Africa, Spain, Russia and South America have visited the store to buy the popular, if accidental hit toy, Zhang has told Chinese media. Both domestic and overseas demand has required her to add over 10 production lines and create around 20,000 units a day, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

“The crying horse’s expression shows feelings of injustice, defiance and stubbornness that reflect the true feelings of most working ‘niu ma’ today,” commented a Sichuan-based Weibo user, using a term meaning “ox and horse” that references people who are overworked in their jobs. “And it looks quite cute, which is why it has created such an explosive reaction.”

U.S. President Donald Trump started an immediate and widespread condemnation early Friday, February 6, after he posted a video on his Truth Social Platform.

The video depicts former U.S. President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.

The one-minute video, which propagates the false conspiracy theory that election company Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the election, ends with a two-second clip of the smiling faces of the Obamas morphed onto the faces of monkeys dancing to the music. 

The company, Dominion, has reportedly settled a $787.5 million defamation case against the news organization Fox News.

The post was part of more than 60 posts of a social media spree that Trump posted overnight.

Before facing public backlash, it was liked a thousand times by Trump’s supporters.

Several American politicians and media personalities condemned Trump’s behaviour.

Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom stated: “Disguisting behaviour, Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”

Political strategist Adam Parkhomenko wrote: “This is overt racism. Full stop…. This is who he is.”

The incident brings overtly racist imagery back into the center of U.S. political discourse, prompting outrage over its targeting of the nation’s first black First Family. Trump’s prodigious social media session also featured reposted falsehoods about the 2020 election, as well as his suggestion to add his likeness to Mount Rushmore.

The anticipation for the Super Bowl Halftime Show is getting to fever-pitch heights as Bad Bunny is gearing up for the dazzling show on February 8, 2026.

Bad Bunny outlines the key details at the Super Bowl Halftime Show press conference on February 5.

The Puerto Rican musician appeared for an official interview before making waves at the Super Bowl Halftime Show.

Bad Bunny, while teasing his fans, said, “I really, as I said, want people to have fun. It’s going to be a huge party, it’s going to be what people can always expect from me, I don’t know if this is something.”

Addressing his fan’s confusion about following Spanish lyrics, Bad Bunny continued, “It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be easy. People only have to worry about… I know that I told them that they had four months to learn Spanish. They don’t even have to learn Spanish. It’s better if they learn to dance. That’s the only thing they need to worry about and enjoy. And of course, choose your team at the game.”

He offered a sneak peek into what’s going on for the big day, saying he’s getting ready for his performance by “eating smashburgers” and “[thinking] about the Super Bowl Halftime Show at 4 a.m.”

Feeling the heat of America’s favorite sport, he admitted, “Wake up, work out, [drink] my coffee, not think too much about it. Last night, I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about it. But yeah, I want to think that it’s just 30 minutes doing something that I love, that I like, and it’s just like that.

Bad Bunny only has one message for his fans: enjoy the vibe at Super Bowl LX. He said, “I’m trying to enjoy it and I know that I’m going to have fun. All the crew, all the people. They’re going to have fun that day. That’s what I’m trying to focus on. Just enjoy the moment, enjoy what is happening, what I’m doing. Trying not to put pressure or something on it.”

For the unversed, Bad Bunny made an appearance at Super Bowl LIV in 2020, along with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.

The Super Bowl Halftime Show will kick off between 7:30 and 9 p.m. ET on NBC from Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California, on February 8, 2026.