Star Wars Kid (2002)Researching

added Dec 12, 2008 at 08:10PM UTC

About

In November of 2002, a Canadian high school student named Ghyslain Raza videotaped himself using a golf-ball retreiver as though it were a double-sided light saber such as the one Darth Maul uses in Star Wars: Episode I. Unbeknownst to the boy in the video, his classmates discovered the video and began posting it online where it soon became a viral phenomenon, redistributed on countless sites, spawning remixes and mashups.

Spread

In May of 2003, a remix of the video was posted to Albinoblacksheep.com.

Aftermath

Unfortunately, Ghyslain was humiliated, finished school in a psychiatric ward, and may have changed his name.

Excerpt from MSNBC article:

Ghyslain, devastated by his sudden celebrity and the relentless teasing that came with it, dropped out of school and reportedly finished the semester in a psychiatric ward. His parents sued the families of the teenagers responsible for the video’s world premiere, in a suit that maintained, “Ghyslain had to endure, and still endures today, harassment and derision from his high-school mates and the public at large.” Also, he “will be under psychiatric care for an indefinite amount of time.” It also stated that the stigma could make it difficult for the kid to continue his education, find employment, and might necessitate that he change his name.

The video was estimated to have been viewed over 900 million times by The Viral Factory in 2006.

Derivatives

Drunken Jedi Version:

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5 Comments

The Crazy Tom
May 08, 2009 at 09:08PM UTC , The Crazy Tom wrote:

This kid is also in Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, he is in an apartment watching Star Wars and waving around with his stick.

n3ko
Jul 11, 2009 at 01:54PM UTC , n3ko wrote:

and where is episode? :/

Ehsivar Cuodo
Aug 23, 2009 at 06:15AM UTC , Ehsivar Cuodo wrote:

What is the music from 1:40 to 1:47?

Watcher
Jan 28, 2010 at 09:07PM UTC , Watcher wrote:

One broken video.

Crazy Phil
Mar 05, 2010 at 11:40PM UTC , Crazy Phil wrote:

this guy not lives in montreal , he lives in Trois-Riviere at Quebec and I see this guy.

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