About
Damn Daniel is a reference to a Twitter video montage featuring a voiceover of a boy remarking that another boy, named Daniel, is dressed well on a series of different occasions. The narrator focuses on Daniel’s shoes, leading the meme to be compared with What Are Those.
Origin
On February 15th, Twitter user joshholzz tweeted the original “Damn Daniel” video.[1] It received more than 16,000 likes in the first 48 hours, according to Mashable;[2] four days after the initial tweet it had 121,938 retweets and 148,382 likes. In it. the narrator can be repeatedly heard praising fellow student Daniel Lara’s look, including his “White Vans.” According to the Twitter account, both boys attend Riverside Poly High School in Riverside, California.[3]
Damn Daniel pic.twitter.com/Va10hmpePO
— josh (@josholzz) February 16, 2016
Spread
The spread was initially spurred by other students at Riverside Poly High School, who retweeted the video frequently. On February 16th, the tweet was retweeted by several fake WorldStarHipHop Twitter accounts, which are generally operated as third-party reuploaders; these accounts, which included WORLDSTARC0MEDY[4] and WORIDSTARHIPH0P,[5] helped the video receive tens of thousands of more views and retweets, increasing the spread of the original video.
On February 17th, the account Four_Pins created the Damn Daniel starter pack, which included White Vans; the tweet received over 19,000 retweets and 23,000 likes.[6] On February 18th, Vans tweeted about the video, creating a Twitter poll with two options: “Back At It” and “With the White Vans;” as of February 19th, with 5 days to go, the poll had received almost 50,000 votes.[7] Clorox[8] and Axe[9] also tweeted about the video, making jokes about the whiteness of the Vans and Daniel’s physical appearance, respectively. Among many other media mentions, the video’s catchphrases were used in the title of an article about Justin Bieber, who was also seen wearing white vans. The video’s popularity caused #DamnDaniel to trend briefly, especially on the West Coast.
Notable Examples
Search Interest
not yet available
External References
[1]Twitter – @josholzz’s tweet
[2]Mashable – In case you didn’t know, Daniel is back at it again with the white Vans
[4]Twitter – @WORIDSTARHIPH0P
[5]Twitter – @WORLDSTARC0MEDY
[6]Twitter – Four_Pins’ tweet
[7]Twitter – Vans_66’s tweet
[8]Twitter – Clorox’s Tweet
[9]Twitter – Axe’s Tweet
[10]GQ – Damn Justin: Bieber Back At It Again with White Vans
[11]Twitter – #damndaniel