I did not learn to drive until I was 25, and it only happened then because I was in a brief stint back in my hometown San Francisco. Except for those two years in my mid 20s, my adulthood has been in New York, a city I truly love… and would never want to drive in. Too much traffic — including but not limited to cars, bigger cars, bike lanes, motorcycles, horses, scooters, buses, pedestrians — all in a hurry, and manning vehicles that keep getting larger and larger (that includes us pedestrians) while the surface area of road remains the same size. So, it’s been REDACTED years since I’ve been behind the wheel, which means I have zero pedals to stand on in weighing in on this story. But don’t worry, that won’t stop me! It seems Joe Jonas spent a good chunk of his Sunday embroiled in the trickiest of all maneuvers: the parallel park. Someone on TikTok watched the spectacle for at least seven minutes and posted a shorter video of it which quickly went viral. So on Monday, Joe playfully responded with his own video on Instagram:
Even global pop stars aren’t immune to the pressure of a tight parking spot.
A seemingly routine moment turned into a viral New York scene when TikToker @neha.nas posted a video of Joe Jonas attempting to parallel park on a city street.
The on-screen text captured the moment: “I love New York because I’ve been watching Joe Jonas parallel park for the last 7 minutes.” She set the scene to the Jonas Brothers’ own song “Burnin’ Up,” adding an extra layer of irony as the clip unfolds.
The lighthearted video quickly took off, pulling in more than 8.5 million views as viewers tuned in to watch the pop star work the curb. Some viewers even point out that Jonas appeared visibly stressed as the minutes ticked by.
Jonas soon realized he had an audience and jumped into the conversation with a playful response of his own. “And I saw you watch and not help once
,” he wrote in the comments.
The TikToker didn’t miss a beat and fired back with equal charm. “Listening. Learning. Will do better next time,” she replied.
Brands and fans alike flooded the comments with their own takes on the parking saga. Slim Jim joked, “First rule of parallel parking in NYC: park somewhere else,” while QuickBooks UK quipped, “he’s not burnin’ up… he’s just tryin’ to back it up.”
Others kept the joke rolling with quick one-liners of their own. “He’s still parking as we speak,” one person wrote.
Jonas later kept the joke going on his own Instagram with a video of himself stumbling out of a New York City shop called Sora as if he’s being kicked out, while his belongings are tossed toward him and he redresses as he walks.
He captioned the clip, “just finished up parallel parking from yesterday,” tying the viral moment into yet another punchline.
Help me out, bitches: can someone please speak to me as if I were a very thick, unintelligent person (just pretend!) and explain how getting kicked out of a store relates to a belabored attempt at parallel parking? I see how the caption relates, obviously. But why is he coming out of a store? Shouldn’t he be stumbling out of his car after finally completing the park? What is this narrative??!! The other elements work — Joe’s commitment to the bit and willingness to keep the joke going are great. It’s just this one (central) detail that flummoxes me. Aside from that, I simply had to cover this story because I was just in a car with my mother over the weekend as she pulled off an elegant parallel park in the wilds of New Jersey. (No one wants me to get back behind the wheel again more than my mother and let me tell you, the fact that I’ve touched on the subject here is a testament to how much I love you guys because I WILL be hearing about it from my mother later! But I digress…) Anyway, I applauded her on her successful park, then brought us both to giggles as I recalled the inimitable Lucille Bluth and her singular perpendicular park.
PS — Getting razzed by QuickBooks?! That has to be a new low.
Joe’s comment on a TikTok of someone watching him attempt to parallel park for 7 minutes in New York
https://t.co/gAv45V2hv6 pic.twitter.com/T5KKq9YPFU
— Jonas Brothers Daily News 🩵 (@Jonas_DailyNews) December 8, 2025
photos credit: Patricia Schlein/Wenn/Avalon, Sadou Faye/Avalon