This Kid Looking At His Phone Is The Super Bowl's Best Meme
The Super Bowl is one of the greatest visual spectacles on Earth, but at least one young kid at the game appeared to have found something more interesting on his phone, in the process creating the greatest meme of the day.
Justin Timberlake’s halftime performance grabbed headlines even before it started ― with speculations about whether he would address the 2004 ‘nipplegate’ controversy with Janet Jackson, if Jackson herself would make an appearance, and even rumors about a Prince hologram. As Timberlake ran through a medley of hits on the field, a large crowd of fans gathered around.
One of them was a 13-year-old from Massachusetts, identified as Ryan McKenna.
When you’re introverted and don’t know how to act around normal people.
So you just pretend to be on your phone.#SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/OtDDFraBRt— Ben Hall (@MrBenLHall) February 5, 2018
when you're live in front of hundreds of millions but you have to get to get that tweet off pic.twitter.com/djWf4A0xkp
— Mike Tunison (@xmasape) February 5, 2018
Timberlake singled the kid out in the middle of the crowd, snapping a quick selfie with him and then getting back to his performance. With the cameras firmly on him, hundreds of millions of people around the world looking directly at his face, McKenna did exactly what most people would do in an awkward situation: look deeply into their phone.
As other fans danced, sang and generally lost their minds, viewers at home saw McKenna grab his phone ― and inspire a stack of jokes.
I mean, we've all been there before. Trying to get our phone unlocked & camera app open to get a selfie while Justin Timberlake is performing right next to us at the #SuperBowl #PepsiHalftime show. #nbd pic.twitter.com/cNH2Pr7xYX
— 1310 Ticket Radio 📻 (@TicketRadio) February 5, 2018
— Lando's Fur Coat (@DiscreetLatino) February 5, 2018
— Jamie McCarty (@JamieMcCarty) February 5, 2018
— Neeraj K. Agrawal (@NeerajKA) February 5, 2018
People on social media couldn’t stop joking about what the kid was looking at that was so much more important than what he was doing, in the middle of the field, during the halftime show, at the Super Bowl.
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) February 5, 2018
— brad esposito (@braddybb) February 5, 2018
— Pat Caruana (@patbcaruana) February 5, 2018
— mat whitehead (@matwhi) February 5, 2018
Some people criticized the kid for not living in the moment.
Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.
No better statement on humanity than a kid staring at his phone while Justin Timberlake does the Super Bowl halftime show beside him.
— Jason Vickers (@jdvickers) February 5, 2018
But look, the kid wanted his selfie with Timberlake ― and he got it! So we know who the real winner is here.
Our @GMA team at #SuperBowl52 has obtained the selfie from the selfie kid #PepsiHalftime pic.twitter.com/xuY5PAHuO4
— Matt Stone (@MattStoneABC) February 5, 2018
Selfie award of the year goes to this kid #SuperBowlSelfie #JustinTimberlake 😭❤️ I would love to be this kid! 😊 pic.twitter.com/airJstaHx1
— Alexia Abrego (@Alexia_Abrego23) February 5, 2018
The Twin Cities Pioneer Press caught up with McKenna after the halftime show. He said he was recording a video of the performance and then, as Timberlake neared, he turned his phone around to switch modes and take a photo.
“It’s been so crazy,” McKenna told the Pioneer Press. “I don’t even know what to think. All my friends have been texting me and stuff. It’s insane.”
Ryan’s dad John McKenna told the Pioneer Press that his phone “started blowing up” following the TV broadcast of the moment.
“It died, like, instantly after it happened. We had friends from all over reaching out. I couldn’t believe it.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.