Skip to content

Comedian Matt Rife defends Sydney Sweeney

Search AI Powered
Human content, AI powered search.

Latest Stories

Kid From The 'Popeyes Kid' Meme Is All Grown Up—And He Just Signed A Deal With The Food Chain

Dieunerst Collin as a child; Collin currently
@FOS/Twitter

Dieunerst Collin, now a freshman outside linebacker at Lake Erie College, was offered a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal after becoming one of the most recognizable memes as a child.

Joanna Edwards
By Joanna EdwardsJan 12, 2023
Joanna Edwards
Joanna Edwards wears many hats: student, data-wrangler and LGBTQ+ activist. Her main passion is writing, followed shortly by percussion, mediocre watercolor painting and scuba diving. A New Englander currently displaced to the South, she waits patiently for winter and its more reasonable weather.
See Full Bio

Ah, Vine, how we miss you.

The now-defunct platform spawned a whole genre of short videos, but also made for prime meme fodder creating some of the more widely used reaction gifs of the last decade.

The kid in one of the more popular ones, Dieunerst Collin, has grown up and spun childhood meme straw into football sponsorship gold.

As a refresher, this is the meme GIF:

Popeyes kid GIFGiphy

That kid?

He's now a freshman offensive lineman at a Division-II college.

Jim Weber (@JimMWebter/Twitter) figured this out and started a social media campaign to get Popeyes to sign Collin to a NIL deal—the new type of sponsorship college athletes can get after recent NCAA rules changes.

Collin picked the campaign up quickly after it had started.

"I JUST WANNA TALK" Collin said in an Instagram post he later reposted to Twitter.

The Popeyes social media team responded on Twitter.

Collin held an Instagram live, thanking people for the campaign that got him the deal.

He said of all the support he received:

"I didn't know the internet was like that."

Other social media teams took a moment to comment, or blatantly try to recruit Collin.


Commenting on the possibilities of the NIL sponsorship, someone thought of a more innovate option than the usual cash payment.

Others were just reminded of the passage of time.


The decision to sign Collin already has worked out for Popeyes as many commenters said they were going to add a Popeyes' trip to their food plans.


Really what we learned here is sometimes, memes can really pay off.

Can't wait for the next meme-to-sponsorship deal to happen, now that companies have realized this is possible.

Latest News

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Trending

RFK Jr. Dragged After Claiming He Can Easily Spot Kids At The Airport Who Aren't 'Healthy'

Screenshot of Aaron Cohen during Fox broadcast about Minneapolis shooting
Political News

Fox News Guest Sparks Outrage With Dystopian Solution For Preventing Mass Shootings

Gavin Newsom
Political News

Newsom Brings Receipts About Red State Homicide Rates Amid Trump's Deployment Of Troops To Blue Cities

Child covering their face
Trending

'Harmless' Lies People Tell Kids That Actually Have Long-Term Effects

More from Trending

JD Vance; Jen Psaki
Johannes Simon/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Vance Gets Brutal Reminder After Accusing Jen Psaki Of 'Attacking' People For Praying Following School Shooting

Vice President JD Vance was criticized after he lashed out at MSNBC host Jen Psaki for saying that "prayer is not freaking enough" to end school shootings after a shooter killed two children and wounded 17 others during the first week of classes at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

Psaki spoke out on X shortly after the shooting occured, to stress that "thoughts and prayers" don't actually address or prevent mass shootings and gun violence overall:

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @andydouglas.trumpboy's TikTok video; President Donald Trump
@andydouglas.trumpboy/TikTok; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Video Of Little Boy Sobbing After Finding Out Trump Is A Real Person Goes Viral—And We Totally Get It

Whether it was Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or some other important facet of childhood, most of us found out when we were kids that something we loved did not exist, and it was absolutely devastating and world-changing.

But imagine there being something that you deeply disliked or feared, only for you to find out that it actually exists on the same plane and in the same timeline as you.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @originalsugarphly's TikTok video
@originalsugarphly/TikTok

Woman Stunned After Best Friend Of 23 Years Ends Friendship Over Her 'Mom Shorts'

We will all have friends who come into our lives for a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime. There are those situational friendships, like from work or school, that dissolve when we exit that space, and there are friendships that might form from knowing the same people.

Then there are those tried-and-true friendships that we think will truly stand the test of time—but even those sometimes fracture under pressure. And sometimes for the most ridiculous reasons.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @nurse_xtina129's TikTok
@nurse_xtina129/TikTok

Woman Sparks Debate By Putting Out Small Fire At Dunkin' Donuts After Workers Ignored It

Imagine hitting that afternoon slump and seeking out your favorite caffeinated beverage: a highlight in an otherwise dumpster fire kind of day. But then you arrive at your coffeehouse of choice—and there's literally a fire.

TikToker Cristina Conklin was waiting in line for a beverage at Dunkin' Donuts in Warwick, New York, when she became either a villain or a hero, depending on who was watching her TikTok video.

Keep ReadingShow less
Former Republican congressman and Fox News host Trey Gowdy
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

MAGA Fumes Over Fox Gun Control Talk

The nation is reeling after yesterday’s mass shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, where a gunman opened fire during a Catholic school Mass, killing two children and injuring more than a dozen others. The tragedy has not only shaken the community but also reignited the national debate over guns in America—this time sparked by an unlikely voice.

Former Republican congressman and Fox News host of Sunday Night in America, Trey Gowdy—long seen as a staunch defender of gun rights and a past recipient of National Rifle Association contributions—surprised many of his own allies when he called for a national reckoning on firearms access.

Keep ReadingShow less