The Crazy True Stories Behind Viral Memes You Love
Bad Luck Brian
We’ve all seen the picture of this kid that’s posing for a school picture and looks like he’s been screwed over by pretty much everything in life, including genetics. His clothing is awful, he looks weird, he has braces, his eyes look shifty and he has that fashionable 90’s haircut all the kids had back in the day. Kyle Craven – Bad Luck Brian in real life – had this yearbook picture of him posted by a friend and became a meme almost overnight.
Apparently Kyle took the picture in a joke, however. Kyle had a goof where he’d rub his face to make it red, squint his eyes, puff out his jaw and hope for the funniest picture possible. I’m pretty sure he never expected to become a meme, but he’s taken his internet fame like a champ!
Success Kid
There’s really no need for a motivational coach if you’ve heard of the Success Kid meme. There’s so much power that goes with the body language of the toddler in that image. Born as Sammy Griner, Success Kid has become the symbol of motivation for an entire generation of people. While the picture itself doesn’t have a story attached to it, the aftermath has a story that’ll melt your heart.
When Sammy was in elementary school, his dad was fighting a very vicious case of liver failure. He’d been struggling for years, requiring a dialysis almost on a daily basis. The popularity of the meme brought loads of attention to their GoFundMe campaign, allowing them to collect the $100,000 required to fund the treatment for Sammy’s dad. I guess Sammy is a success kid in real life too.
