Mr. Worldwide

About

Mr. Worldwide refers to the self-ascribed nickname of American rapper and music producer Pitbull. The name has appeared in a variety of memes, which use the title ironically to mock Pitbull's jet-setting playboy persona.

Origin

"Mr. Worldwide" comes from one of the nicknames that Pitbull has for himself. Originally calling himself "Mr. 305," a reference to his area code in his hometown of Miami, Fl, Pitbull has been using the moniker since at least 2010, when he released the mixtape Mr. Worldwide on April 20th.^[1][2][3] On June 17th, 2011 Pitbull released the album Planet Pit, which included the song "Mr. Worldwide" (shown below).

Spread

On September 9th, 2013, Urban Dictionary user izcool^[4] posted a definition of "Mr. Worldwide" to the database (shown below). They wrote, "A signature lyric in any of Pitbull's songs. If it's a Pitbull song, it most likely has it in the beginning. It's like a verbal tick he can't get rid of. Just like how any politician always says "God Bless America" at the end of every speech." The post received more than 70 upvotes.

On December 2nd, 2016, the Instagram account @thefunnyintrovert^[5] posted a photoshop of Pitbull working at checkout aisle in a store with the caption, "Your total comes to $3.05." They also added an additional caption: "Lady: That's ridiculous. Can I speak to your manager? Pitbull: (leans into mic) will the manager please come see…. MR WORLDWIDE." The post received more than 20,000 likes in 25 weeks.

10 days later, on December 12th, Twitter user @beaauyonce^[6] posted a photoshopped image of Pitbull with three women under the caption "Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International, & Mr Worldwide 🇵🇭🇨🇺✨." The tweet (shown below) received more than 31,000 retweets and 52,000 likes in six months. On Facebook,^[7] a repost of the tweet received more than 7,000 reactions and 1,400 shares.

On January 14th, 2017, Shitpostbot user P4NZERSCHRECK^[8] posted a photoshopped image of Pitbull holding the world in the palm of his hands. Across the image is the name "Mr. Worldwide" (shown below).

The image became the popular subject of image macros in which people captioned the picture with things that aren't very worldly, despite the tone of the joke. It has become the most prevalent use of "Mr. Worldwide" as a meme. On February 22nd, Twitter user @jintherapper^[9] posted the image with the caption "taeyong giving a speech in krn then winwin giving a speech in chinese then yuta giving a speech in japnese then mark giving a speech in eng." The tweet (shown below, left) received more than 2,400 retweets and 2,300 likes. On March 3rd, Redditor BEISisICE^[10] posted the image with the caption "When a guy from somalia upvotes your post." The post (shown below, right) received more than 4,100 points (98% upvoted).

Over the next few months, "Mr. Worldwide" has been referenced on the subreddit /r/MemeEconomy several times. On May 26th, Redditor hansgraf^[11] posted "Mr. Worldwide memes show great potential for a short term investment, BUY NOW!!!!" Several days later, Redditor Vyersadonis^[12] posted "Mr. Worldwide meme on the rise?"

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References