The Internet always has viral trends that die down in a couple of days. Last week a video titled “Damn Daniel” featured several clips of 14-year-old, Daniel Lara, wearing a variety of different outfits as the person recording, Joshua Holz, repeatedly says, “Damn Daniel. Back at it again with the white Vans.”
The viral Snapchat video was uploaded to Twitter by Holz on February 15, where it has been retweeted nearly 290 thousand times and liked over 370 thousand times; It has taken over Twitter feeds, Instagram, and Tumblr, becoming the Internet’s latest obsession. Conner Kurahashi (10) said, “I find the video hilarious and have snapchatted me saying it to strangers. Damn Daniel!”
Lara tweeted that he is, “stoked by all [the fame].” The post has been meme-ed, which is usually an image of a person with a funny caption, and a variety of Twitter users have created a rap to the audio in the video. People have been remaking the clip and posting it all over social media pages. Jessica Goucher (10) finds the video amusing and admits that she has “shouted Damn Daniel to [her] friends and even people she [has] never talked to before.”
As a result of some memes, a story started trending which claimed that as a result of his new viral fame Lara was beaten up for his shoes. But, was “Damn Daniel” hospitalized after the video went viral? No, he was not
beaten by robbers who wanted his iconic white Vans. However, before people figured out the rumor was a hoax, #DamnPrayForDaniel was trending on Twitter. Nicole Sieger (11) commented, “I couldn’t believe that someone would actually rob someone like that, even if it was a joke.”
Despite the allegations made by people, the future’s looking bright for Lara. He is safely enjoying his growing fame and even considers being a Vans spokesman in times to come.