“White guy blinking” has become one of the early contenders for the meme of 2017.
The GIF has proven to be extremely popular on Twitter, with it commonly being used to express surprise or disbelief among users of the social networking platform.
The meme originates from a video posted by the gaming site Giant Bomb, in which the “white guy” in question — the site’s video producer Drew Scanlon — is seen reacting to co-founder Jeff Gerstmann’s comments that he is “doing some farming, with my hoe here.”
The video from which the clip was taken was posted all the way back in 2013, but it experienced a resurgence in popularity thanks to the following tweet:
https://twitter.com/eskbl/status/828137274592235520
Since this tweet, many others have taken to posting their own tweets using the GIF:
https://twitter.com/VishakhaMallya/status/830288793202806784
https://twitter.com/Markaaaay/status/833063874664370176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Her: wow you got a good job, you single, you dont play games, and you got your own place. Like whats wrong with you.
Me: I'm 5'7
Her pic.twitter.com/EcTpPulgcF
— trell (@iTrap4TheHokage) February 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/833735795081084930
But despite his face now becoming one of the most popular memes of the year, Drew Scanlon seems unmoved by his newfound fame, providing only the following tweet:
I do public appearances, birthday parties, and bar mitzvahs. Contact my agent for day rates. https://t.co/1UNbG7QQwt
— Drew Scanlon (@drewscanlon) February 17, 2017
Nonetheless, Giant Bomb’s sizable ONLINE community has been loving the attention Drew has been receiving. On the site’s subreddit, one user wrote: “It really freaked me out when my friend (absolutely not in the GB or gaming community) held up his phone to me, laughing, and it turned out to be a gif of our good son Drew. Like I thought I was going crazy and imagining things.”
