The musician is well-known for controversial actions, from smashing champagne glasses on his own head to posting seemingly pro-drug photos on Instagram. The “my ex’s best friend” singer has done it again, this time through a somewhat unsettling revelation he shared on Instagram stories this past Friday, Dec. 16, per People. The video, which he captioned “my best friends,” showed a shiny dogpile of leeches centered over and around his navel, pulsating as they drew blood through his abdomen. MGK, whose real name is Colson Baker, didn’t offer his followers any insight as to why he’d chosen to allow—even encourage—the creepy crawlers to quench their thirst with his bodily fluids. A study published via the National Library of Medicine dates leech therapy all the way back to Hippocrates, with active biologics including anti-coagulants, vasodilators, anesthetics, antibacterials and more contained in the creatures’ saliva. When a leech latches onto a person, all of these substances are injected in their body, which can have analgesic (pain-relieving), anti-inflammatory and anesthetic effects. According to Healthline, a leech will typically be allowed to latch for 20 to 45 minutes, and can be therapeutic for those with heart disease, blood clots, and varicose veins, and may also help prevent limb amputation due to diabetic side effects and soft tissue loss in cosmetic surgeries. People reports that the use of leeches on the belly button, specifically, may help in liver and GI detoxification and blood flow improvement. The latter must be very important to the singer and his fiancé, Megan Fox, since they’ve been known to ingest each other’s.
