American rapper Yung Gravy has sparked a mix of fascination and discomfort online after revealing what he called a “dark” way he made around $400,000 during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a conversation with content creator Joe Bonham, the rapper, whose real name is Matthew Raymond Hauri, was asked to share his biggest “financial flex” and responded with an unusual story that had little to do with music and everything to do with betting on a grim side of the crisis. His disclosure has since gone viral, drawing millions of views and plenty of debate over whether the move was cold, clever, or both.
Yung Gravy’s ‘dark’ Covid trade:
Hauri explained that, at the beginning of the Covid outbreak, he decided to place a call option on US flower delivery company 1-800-Flowers. His reasoning was stark: he expected people would avoid stepping out in public, boosting demand for delivered bouquets, and he also anticipated that rising Covid deaths would mean more funeral and sympathy flower orders. “At the beginning of Covid, I put a call on 1-800-Flowers,” he said in the clip. “It’s dark but I knew people were gonna die and I knew people didn’t want to go out in public. So I made about $400,000 on 1-800-Flowers.”
The bet paid off as he expected. With lockdowns in place and social distancing becoming the norm, businesses like 1-800-Flowers saw a surge in demand from people sending gifts and condolences without meeting in person. As the company’s stock price climbed, the value of Yung Gravy’s call options soared, allowing him to cash out with profits of roughly $400,000 over the course of the pandemic.
How the stock market move worked:
In the video, Hauri briefly touched on the mechanics of what he did, framing it as a calculated market move rather than a lucky guess. A call option gives an investor the right, but not the obligation, to buy a stock at a fixed price within a set period, and it becomes highly profitable if the share price rises sharply. By choosing a company that he believed would see an uptick in business because of Covid-related conditions, he effectively bet on the stock’s upside during one of the most disruptive periods in recent economic history.
The rapper acknowledged that his reasoning was “dark,” since part of the thesis relied on more people dying and families ordering funeral arrangements. Yet he framed it as a practical, financially minded decision shaped by his understanding of how crises can shift consumer behaviour. When asked if he had studied finance in college, he confirmed that he had indeed studied “Finance and marketing,” suggesting that his background helped him spot the opportunity and structure the trade.
Internet reacts to ‘dark but smart’ Covid windfall:
After being widely shared on social media, the video immediately gained popularity and received almost 11 million views in a single day. His answer was so direct that many viewers were taken aback, but many also applauded the decision for its financial acumen and hard reasoning. This division was evident in the comments on the video; some referred to him as a “business genius,” while others acknowledged that the tactic was unpleasant but unquestionably strategic.
Several users wrote that they were “not gonna lie, that’s pretty smart,” capturing the uneasy admiration the story generated. Others pointed out that markets often reward such calculations and that institutional investors make similar crisis-based bets all the time, only with less public scrutiny. The difference, they suggested, was that Yung Gravy openly talked about aligning a profit strategy with a period when millions were losing lives and livelihoods.
A rapper with a finance background:
Beyond the shock value, the revelation painted a different side to Yung Gravy, better known for his humorous lyrics and viral presence than for stock market plays. His admission that he studied finance and marketing in college added context to how he was able to identify and execute such a specific options trade. Rather than relying only on music income during the pandemic, he leaned on his finance training to build a parallel income stream when touring was largely shut down.
The episode also showed how certain performers took advantage of the Covid downtime to delve deeper into investments, ranging from stocks and options to startups and businesses. In Yung Gravy’s case, the confluence of a pandemic, a flower delivery service, and an options wager produced a very lucrative but morally contentious tale that continues to provoke discussion about the boundary between smart investing and making money off of sorrow.
