The Kid From The Popeyes Meme Is All Grown Up And Now A State Champ
Does anyone remember Vine? Yes, kids, that's the name of what we had in those long, long ago days before TikTok — long ago, in this case, meaning from 2012 to 2016 (via The New York Times). Vine, even more so than TikTok, was like YouTube for people with seriously short attention spans, since its videos lasted just 6 seconds. Needless to say, they didn't go in heavily for narrative, nor were they all that big on recipes and household hints. What Vine did best, though, was to launch or spread memes — including such memorable ones as "Damn, Daniel!" and the infamous Rickroll (we're never gonna give that up).
Vine, as with all social media apps, did have a darker side. For one thing, it gave us Jake Paul. For another, it helped to mess up the lives of people who never wanted to be meme-ified in the first place. One such person was the nine-year-old who shot to unwanted fame in 2013 as the subject of a viral video called "Terio at Popeyes" (via Know Your Meme).
Dieunerst Collin wasn't happy to be a meme
Young "Terio," whose real name is Dieunerst Collin, was minding his own business waiting to get some Popeyes chicken when some stranger started filming him. Understandably, Collin gave him a little side-eye. As he told Sports Illustrated, some eight years after becoming an unintentional celebrity, "It was somebody randomly recording me, and [I had] never been viral before. When it first came out, I would take it as bullying, every time I used to hear 'Oh, Terio, Terio,' and that's not my name ..." (Terio, as per Know Your Meme, was another big name on Vine that Collin was said to resemble.)
Collin admits that "When it first happened, I kind of felt sad about it," and says he was teased for his video appearance up through middle school. He goes on to explain, though, that "Over the years, I got over it."
Well, now Collin's back in the spotlight again, but this time it's for something we're sure he doesn't mind one bit. As per this tweet, he's now a star on East Orange High School's football team, and his squad just won New Jersey's state championship! Forget eating out at Popeyes: this young man's accomplishments deserve to be celebrated with, say, filet mignon. While Collin doesn't know if he'll continue with football, he does plan to attend college and would like to wind up in sports media. He feels he did learn one thing from his life as a reluctant meme, though: "I would say just don't take it so personal."