Huge events like the Super Bowl offer the perfect material for homegrown memes. Who can forget Left Shark from Katy Perry’s 2015 halftime performance? That guy spawned an endless amount of gifs and memes that are still making the rounds.
With Super Bowl LII still fresh in our minds, we now have plenty of fresh new memes that will make it hard to forget. Some have to do with the players, some with the fans, and some are about the halftime show. The one getting THE most attention right now wound up being its own show during the halftime show.
You can thank Justin Timberlake for that. Kind of. Dubbed “Selfie Kid”, the 13-year-old subject of the meme is so popular he’s earned his own nickname. So how did a 7th grade kid end up going viral within minutes?
There, in the thick of Timberlake’s performance of Can’t Stop the Feeling, Ryan McKenna was lucky enough to score a selfie with the singer in the midst of all the excitement. JT even posed for it! It was the perfect shot.
But right after, with Timberlake still singing just a few feet away from him and the party going, cameras caught the kid staring blankly at his phone.
And thus, his unemotional stare was shared with millions around the world and the jokes began. Almost immediately, memes of Ryan were being created online and by the end of the big game, the media was crowding him. Overnight, his social media followers shot up, and news outlets were begging to talk to him.
So, what exactly was he doing on his phone with his favorite singer standing close by? It turns out his phone was in video mode and it cut off moments before Timberlake singled him out. He restarted it just in time to flip it to camera mode and take the picture with JT, but then it locked up again.
That’s why he was looking down at it when he was caught in a close-up on national TV – and the jumbotron. As Ryan’s 15 minutes were being immortalized into Monday morning, we learned that Justin Timberlake is his favorite singer and he was in awe of being that close to him.
Friends and classmates set his phone on fire with texts and Snapchat requests, and it’s safe to guess that he’s the envy of many of his peers. The only thing that could have made Ryan’s night better was if the Patriots had won the game.
The Massachusetts native was in Minnesota with his family to cheer on his favorite team. Lucky for him, it turned out be an unforgettable night for two reasons. He wound up being the real winner during the halftime show and on the internet.
Watch this video below to hear some of the funniest reactions to “Selfie Kid” online. Just like Left Shark, people will be talking about him for a long, long time. And the internet has made him eternal.
Did you see Selfie Kid live on TV? What do you think of his reaction? Have you seen some of the memes online?