--- title: Internet Hero Is Born as Ice Cream Theft Captured on TV description: An ice cream cone stealing man is going down in the books as an internet hero after helping himself to a treat on live TV. canonical: https://time.com/5724990/ice-cream-theft/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-11-12T14:20:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:02.726Z og:title: An Internet Hero Is Born. It's This Sly Mischief Maker Who Stole an Ice Cream Cone og:description: "Crime of the century" og:url: https://time.com/5724990/ice-cream-theft/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac107cd6baad76ca/698a05b297cdff07b76b9d3a/icecream.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1732 og:image:height: 974 og:image:alt: Melted Ice Cream Cone og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: An Internet Hero Is Born. It's This Sly Mischief Maker Who Stole an Ice Cream Cone twitter:description: "Crime of the century" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac107cd6baad76ca/698a05b297cdff07b76b9d3a/icecream.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Internet Hero Is Born When a Sly Mischief Maker Steals Ice Cream Cone on Live TV > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. It combines original reporting and analysis with the best of TIME, spanning politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Nov 12, 2019 2:20 PM UTC  Puddle of melted ice cream with cone and sprinkles. Puddle of melted ice cream with cone and sprinkles.Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Nov 12, 2019 2:20 PM UTC Someone fell victim to ice cream [theft](https://time.com/4960860/prince-harry-popcorn-invictus/) at the hands of a crafty gentleman who is now a newly anointed internet hero. A [clip](https://time.com/4937297/empanada-dog-viral/) from the on Monday night’s Ottawa Senators-Carolina Hurricanes game at the PNC Arena captures it all. The FOX Sports broadcast shows the incident take place when a man takes his eyes off of his own [ice cream](https://time.com/5619750/ice-cream-truck-viral/) cone as he looks at his friend’s phone, leaving himself wide open. That’s when a fellow fan in a beanie hat makes away with the entire ice cream by slipping it out of its paper cup. Even though he made no effort to hide the fact that he was treating himself to the ice cream instead of ponying up the cash for his own, he appeared to get away with it. Until he didn’t that is. He helps himself to a mouthful of ice cream before the true ice cream owner notices. Evidently satisfied with just a taste, the wily man returns the ice cream to its rightful owner when he catches on and smiles. While it’s entirely possible this was staged in the vein of the mayo tub stunt, that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. The Hurricanes beat the Senators 8-2, but the ice cream hijinks certainly made this segment more interesting. The hammy moment is delighting the masses on [reddit’s videos subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/) and Twitter where the ice cream mischief maker is gaining a bit of a reputation. Consider this a lesson to keep your eyes on your snacks at all times lest you fall victim to theft. It’s also an instructional video for finding the window of opportunity life gives you, and never looking back. See how the scene goes down as everyone celebrates the sly move below. “Crime of the century,” the Carolina Hurricanes called it. > [](https://twitter.com/Canes/status/1194079554094141444) > [](https://twitter.com/bairington44/status/1194073811429183488) > [](https://twitter.com/CanesOnFSCR/status/1194074962316759040) > [](https://twitter.com/Mr%5FDrinksOnMe/status/1194158637524148224) > [](https://twitter.com/Ginohard%5F/status/1194143670703816704) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5724990/ice-cream-theft/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5724990/ice-cream-theft/"},"headline":"Internet Hero Is Born When a Sly Mischief Maker Steals Ice Cream Cone on Live TV","datePublished":"2019-11-12T14:20:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:02.726Z","description":"An ice cream cone stealing man is going down in the books as an internet hero after helping himself to a treat on live TV.","url":"https://time.com/5724990/ice-cream-theft/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac107cd6baad76ca/698a05b297cdff07b76b9d3a/icecream.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac107cd6baad76ca/698a05b297cdff07b76b9d3a/icecream.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Melted Ice Cream Cone","caption":"Ice cream cone","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5724990/ice-cream-theft/","name":"Internet Hero Is Born When a Sly Mischief Maker Steals Ice Cream Cone on Live TV"}}]}] ```