Acting like an unbearable brat, and 5 other ways people became internet famous in 2017

2017 was the year when it became necessary to distinguish “social media movements” from “social media fame.”

The #metoo movement’s reach and impact served notice to men in power nearly everywhere that the time of looking past sexual harassment and sexual violence is coming to an abrupt close. But becoming “internet famous” remains the more shallow step-cousin-in-law to the “social media movement,” as exhibited by the following, erhm, “stars” who made their name this year.

‘Cash Me Ousside’

It’s hard to argue that any of those more fleeting out-of-nowhere internet sensations had more reach or impact than one Danielle Bregoli did in 2017.

She turned a viral phrase when she told audience members at her appearance as a troubled youth on “Dr. Phil” to “Cash me ousside, how bout dah?” She then turned the resulting 15 minutes of meme-fame into a rap deal with Atlantic Records, and released three singles before the year was out.

Her all-out assault on the English language continues on those three singles, titled “These Heaux,” “Hi Bich/Wachu Know” and “Mama Don’t Worry (Still Ain’t Dirty).”

Robert E. Kelly

Robert E. Kelly was a well-known figure in the world of diplomatic affairs, but his March appearance on a BBC newscast catapulted him, and his cute kids, into the double-bullseye of the internet mainstream.

While answering a question on international relations with North Korea, his daughter saunters into the interview before his baby bursts in with the aid of a walker.

“My apologies,” Kelly says to the anchor, while his frenzied wife ushers the kiddies out of the frame.

Oh, Mr. Kelly, the internet assures you, the cuteness of the situation outweighs any perceived breach of Skype-interview etiquette.

To cement his family in the good graces of internet fame, he dropped his new followers some holiday wishes on Twitter last week.

#NuggsForCarter

The one thing the world knows about Carter Wilkerson is that he loves chicken nuggets. He loves them so much, in fact, that he asked the official Wendy’s Twitter account in April, how many retweets it would take for the burger chain to endow him with a free year’s worth of the processed, all-white-meat goodies.

It was a presumptive request, but came at a time when the prom-posal via Twitter was also en vogue, so Wendy’s responded with a figure so high it would likely never be achieved: 18 million retweets is what it would take.

Well, Wilkerson never got to 18 million, but he still got his nuggs, as Wendy’s rode the wave of social media publicity that so many others have since tried to replicate.

In May, Wilkerson’s tweet begging for nuggets became the all-time most retweeted bit of content on the platform, with more than 3.6 million co-signs.

White Guy Blinking

In this case, he was a meme before he was identified publicly, as some guy named Drew Scanlon. After his December appearance on “Good Morning America” for a segment on the top memes of 2017, the requisite cache of anonymous internet fame was transferred onto Scanlon, who is something of a videographer himself.

Oddly enough, he didn’t film the famous blinking moment himself. Here’s an updated version of Scanlon blinking, for the record:

Salt Bae

Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe sensually sprinkled his internet spice on Instagram in January, and that was all she wrote. He owns a chain of Turkish steakhouses, but parlayed his internet fame into announcing in September that he would bring his steaks, and his salt to South Florida.

He made waves soon after his Miami location opened in November by posing as Fidel Castro in another Instagram post, which was an odd choice. But odd choices do not bar one from internet fame; in fact they often help.

It doesn’t hurt, either, that Gökçe is in pretty decent shape, which is well documented on his Instagram account, where he has 10.2 million followers. That’s just 1.8 million fewer than the “Cash Me Ousside” girl, for those scoring at home.

Dr. David Dao

David Dao didn’t go out looking for internet fame, but in April it found him, when two airport security officers dragged him off a United flight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, sending the airline into a public relations tailspin.

The original episode was caught on video. A bloodied Dao mumbles only somewhat coherently while two security officers, who were fired in October, drag him from the plane in order to make room for four United crew members on a flight that was already fully booked, according to USA Today.

All the above instances prove about internet fame in 2017, though, is that while there may be no wrong way to get internet famous, there’s not really a right way, either.

This story was originally published December 27, 2017 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Acting like an unbearable brat, and 5 other ways people became internet famous in 2017."