[2][3][4] The video became viral on TikTok in August 2023, causing an influx of visitors using the slide and prompting enforcement of restrictions on its use by the city, as well as scientific analysis of the initial incident.

The slide was situated in the $95 million plaza outside Boston City Hall designed by architecture firm Sasaki.

[5][7] In October, the video was featured on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in its first episode following the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.

[14] On August 8, Mayor of Boston Michelle Wu stated that "we want all of our public spaces to be beloved and if it looks like we need to make sure that there’s more signage that this is for children or something, we can do that too"[9] On the night of August 10, it was noticed by a Tumblr user that barricades had been placed by Boston property management department to block off the slide, as well as two smaller slides next to it, and that the site was being patrolled by "people who hate fun".

[15] Several theories formed as to why this took place, with media outlets such as HuffPost and Slate recruiting biomechanists and physicists including Rhett Allain to determine the reason.