Why are people calling to 'Release the Kraken'?: Yahoo News Explains
Pro-Trump groups have been calling to 'Release the Kraken' in the weeks following President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in an effort to challenge the election results. But where does the rallying cry come from? Yahoo News explains.
Video Transcript
- I'm going to release the Kraken.
- Yes, release that Kraken.
- Release the Kraken.
- Show me your Kraken.
- The Kraken.
- Wait, what the hell is a Kraken?
So that was Sidney Powell, a lawyer who is not officially a part of President Trump's legal team, which is kind of hard to tell, after we keep seeing her alongside President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
- Thank you, Rudy.
- And her cry to release said Kraken has become one of America's most unique, even if 90% of the people using it have no idea where the expression comes from. Since Sidney "The Kraken" Powell first used the phrase on Lou Dobbs Tonight, diehard Trump supporters have used the Kraken as a rallying cry, a kind of bat signal, if you will, that there is evidence out there, somewhere, that will be unearthed by the Kraken, that will totally change the election results, and bring four more years to President Trump, which is nothing but a myth, kind of like the origins of the Kraken.
- Release the Kraken.
- This is actually the third time release the Kraken has had a pop culture moment. The first, from that clip, was from the 1981 classic, Clash of the Titans, which I haven't actually seen. But some of the older people on my team say it was a pretty big deal. Greek gods, in an all-out war, with the Kraken as Zeus' secret weapon. Even though the Kraken is from Norse mythology, it still worked.
Oh, wait. I almost forgot-- the Kraken is a legendary sea monster, like a giant octopus that terrorizes sailors, which makes sense for the Kraken's next two big screen occurrences, in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
- The Kraken!
- But the phrase release the Kraken didn't really become a thing until the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans dropped its first trailer online.
- Release the Kraken!
- People though a very shiny Liam Neeson saying those words, while a giant CGI monster attacked, was somewhere between kind of bad ass and really funny. It inspired thousands of memes. People put it on shirts, mugs, novelty road signs, and created endless parodies.
Until November, the phrase really wasn't political at all. But given the epic stakes, the Kraken has quickly left the sea and landed at the front of President Trump's ongoing calls to upturn what experts have called a remarkably well run presidential election. So yeah, I guess the Kraken really is a monster after all.
- You will see him again.
- Yes.
