Huggy Wuggy: what is viral YouTube and TikTok video game - and police warning over teddy bear song explained

A razor-toothed blue teddy, known as Huggy Wuggy, sings about ‘hugging and killing’ in videos which have gone viral among children.

Police are now warning parents across the UK to act after children as young as five have viewed the video - which invites viewers to ‘take their last breath’.

Find out everything you need to know about the Huggy Wuggy character here.

What is Huggy Wuggy?

Huggy Wuggy is a blue bear-like character, with razor sharp teeth.

The character is part of a horror game where, as the villain, he stalks players in an abandoned toy factory - the scary teddy also sings horrifying songs throughout.

The videos have slipped through the filters on YouTube and TikTok, due to their innocent name, meaning young children are viewing the clips.

There have already been some reports that children are recreating the game in the school playground - by acting out the characters’ actions or whispering nasty things in another child’s ear.

A line in one Huggy Wuggy song reads: "My teeth sharp and ready, in my grasp, yeah they’re deadly”.

Another song suggests its viewers "lean in for a spine-breaking embrace".

One song even invites viewers to take their last breath: "I could hug you here forever, till you breathe your last breath together”.

Mum-of-two Rhia Fearn said she first thought the bear was harmless, due to the name.

“I was asking him questions about whether he was a goodie, and he was adamant ‘no he’s a baddie and he kills people’,” the 35-year-old from Etwall told the Daily Mail.

“That was really contradictory for me because I thought ‘that can’t be right - he’s called Huggy Wuggy’.

“He said children at school had been talking about it and one of his friends has been watching it.

“He told me Huggy Wuggy kills everyone he meets and he’s not nice, he’s a baddie and he’s very mean.

“I believe its accessible on YouTube and it’s really frightening that this Huggy Wuggy has snuck in under my radar as a parent and infiltrated my child’s mind without me even being aware.

“It’s really frightening as a lot of parents will be oblivious to this level of violence our children are being exposed to.”

What have police said about the Huggy Wuggy video?

The Huggy Wuggy video raised alarm bells after a year one child was seen acting out the actions of the razor-toothed bear in a school playground, in Dorset.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said that the "the blue bear-like character has long arms and rows of razor sharp teeth”.

They added: "Set in an abandoned toy factory, Huggy is a villain in the game who stalks the players from vents are unreachable places. Videos of the game are available to watch on YouTube, with other clips dedicated to Huggy in songs.”

Chris Conroy, cyber protection officer for Dorset Police, said: "There are videos people have made, songs people have made, and it’s popping up all over YouTube and Tik Tok using this quite graphic imagery of this bear-like character with razor sharp teeth.”

He said the videos are “based around jump scares and things you certainly wouldn’t want children exposed to”.

Conroy continued: “The game is available on platforms such as YouTube and Roblox and contains disturbing content that is unfiltered due to there being no age rating.

“If you were to use even YouTube Kids for example, it may slip through because there is nothing obviously sinister about the name of a video.

“It really comes down to paying attention of what your children are doing and making sure they are not just trusting YouTube Kids videos are safe because unfortunately with videos like this, things do slip through the cracks."

The horrific trend is now said to be the online equivalent of the Killer Clown craze, from 2016.

What other viral crazes have there been?

The killer clown craze spread widely across the UK in 2016.

People, sometimes criminals, would dress as a clown to scare innocent bystanders.

Later, in 2019, the Momo challenge went viral - which led to warnings that children were being encouraged to kill themselves or commit violent acts.

People, including children, would receive a message on WhatsApp - and the profile picture would be a distorted image of a woman with bulging eyes and a wicked smile.

The messages would include scary images or violent dares - including self-harm and suicide.

However, Samaritans and the NSPCC have since dismissed this craze as a malicious hoax, saying that there is no evidence that the Momo challenge caused any harm itself in the UK.