Pizza Rat

Pizza Rat is an internet meme based around a viral video of a brown rat[1] carrying a slice of pizza down the steps of a New York City Subway station in Manhattan.[2] The video was first uploaded to Instagram on September 21, 2015, and a copy was uploaded to YouTube later. As of September 2023, the YouTube video has more than 12.35 million views.[3]

video icon New York City rat taking pizza home on the subway (Pizza Rat™)

Impact

Within hours of the video's posting, #PizzaRat was trending on Twitter, and by September 23, the clip had been viewed over five million times.[2][4][5] Articles were quickly written by Gawker, BuzzFeed, DNAinfo, and Gothamist.[2] Pizza Rat costumes, as well as "sexy" Pizza Rat costumes, were created and worn for Halloween that year.[2][6][7]

Popular Science identified the rat as a common brown rat, and noted the rarity of humans to be able to get as close to them as Matt Little, the individual who originally posted the video to YouTube, did while filming the video. They attributed this to either the rat being too hungry to run, or more used to humans than other rats.[1]

The Washington Post created a timeline of the meme's progression, starting with its upload on September 21. The article argued that journalists and marketers attempting to gain clout from the meme, as well as the users themselves oversharing it, led to the meme's death within two days of its initial creation.[2]

The Staten Island Yankees rebranded as the Staten Island Pizza Rats for several games, wearing uniforms and offering merchandise depicting a stylized pizza rat.[8]

Zardulu, a New York City-based performance artist, claimed credit for staging the original video as well as several other viral hoaxes in an interview with The Washington Post.[9] However, Little denies that the video was a hoax and states that they have no association with Zardulu.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Why Do Rats Love Pizza?". Popular Science. September 23, 2015. Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  2. Dewey, Caitlin (September 22, 2015). "The three stages of going viral in 2015, according to the Pizza Rat meme". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  3. Little, Matt (September 21, 2015). "New York City rat taking pizza home on the subway (Pizza Rat™)". YouTube. Archived from the original on April 10, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  4. "You Love Pizza Rat. You Don't Own Pizza Rat". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  5. Noriega, Margarita (September 21, 2015). "Pizza Rat: New York City's infamous rodent, explained". Vox. Archived from the original on March 14, 2021. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  6. Koman, Tess (October 5, 2015). "Here's the Sexy Pizza Rat Costume You've Been Waiting For". Cosmopolitan. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  7. Mallenbaum, Carly. "Even a 'pizza rat' costume can be made sexy for Halloween". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  8. Calder, Rich (January 1, 2022). "Yankees were 'embarrassed' by Staten Island team's Pizza Rat promotion". New York Post. Archived from the original on December 17, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  9. Ohlheiser, Abby (December 14, 2016). "She staged a viral story. You fell for her hoax. She thinks that's beautiful". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 2, 2021. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  10. Goldman, Alex (February 25, 2016). "Zardulu". Reply All (Podcast). Retrieved August 19, 2022.
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