EAST ORANGE, NJ — You in all probability know him because the “Popeyes Child.” However New Jersey’s Dieunerst Collin has managed to attain what many different individuals who have change into well-known via web memes haven’t: flip his notoriety right into a payday.
Collin, an East Orange native, was simply 9-years-old when a video of him holding a Popeyes gentle drink cup and glancing on the digital camera sideways went viral in 2013. Quickly, gifs and memes utilizing screenshots of the video – which was taken as somebody teases that he appears like Vine superstar Lil TerRio – started to unfold like wildfire throughout the web.
Mockingly, the expertise was one thing that Collin rolled his eyes at for years, initially taking it as bullying. However through the years, his unintended fame grew on him. And after his highschool soccer workforce in East Orange captured a state championship final yr, the student-athlete gave a nod to his previous on social media, tagging Popeyes with the next message: “I simply wanna speak enterprise.”
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After the brand new meme started to unfold on-line, it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Popeyes reached out to him with a proposal for a reputation, picture and likeness (NIL) deal. And earlier this week, that deal grew to become a actuality when a big billboard studying “From Memes To Desires” went up in Essex County.
“I simply need to thank everybody for going within the feedback and tagging Popeyes,” wrote Collin, who’s now a 19-year-old offensive lineman at Lake Erie School in Ohio.
“That really led me to the place I’m at now, so I’m grateful for that,” he added.
“Who acquired the final chuckle now ?” one particular person commented. “Congrats on the NIL, hold being nice, nicely achieved.”
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