Pizza Rat
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About
Pizza Rat is the nickname given to a rodent that became an overnight Internet sensation after it was spotted carrying down a slice of pizza down the stairs of a New York City subway platform in September 2015.
Origin
On September 18th, 2015, New York City standup comedian Matt Little recorded a video of a rat dragging a slice of pizza down the stairs at the First Avenue L train station in Manhattan. On September 21st, Little uploaded the video to his Instagram and YouTube accounts with a bemusing description comparing the rodent to Master Splinter from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (shown below). Within the first 24 hours, the video garnered over two million views.
A rat tries to bring slice of pizza down subway station stairs. OR Master Splinter bringing food home to feed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
Spread
Also on September 21st, Matt Little submitted the YouTube video to Reddit's /r/NYC subreddit[9], where the post garnered more than 800 points (95% upvoted) and 120 comments in less than 24 hours. Within the hour of the video entering online circulation via Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, a novelty Twitter account assuming the voice of the now-famous rodent was launched under the handle @NYCPizzaRat[6].
News Media Coverage
Throughout the day, Matt Little's video was picked up by Gawker[4] in an article titled "Pizza Rat, Pizza Rat, I Love You," followed by a number of other New York City-centric blogs and viral media news sites, including DNAInfo[15], Gothamist[5], VOX[11], Cheezburger[20], BuzzFeed[16], CNN[12] and Mashable[17], among many others.
Various Examples
Soon, a handful of parodies and tributes to the Pizza Rat began surfacing on popular image-sharing sites like Imgur and Giphy, including image macros, animated GIFs, demotivational posters and fan art illustrations.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Instagram – Matt Little's Instagram Video
[2] YouTube – New York City rat taking pizza home on the subway
[3] Twitter – Hashtag Results for #PizzaRat
[4] Gawker – Pizza Rat, Pizza Rat, I Love You
[5] Gothamist – Video: Subway Rat Could Use A Little Help Lugging This Pizza Slice Down The Stairs
[6] Twitter – @NYCPIzzaRat
[7] BuzzFeed – Are You Pizza Rat?
[8] The Washington Post – The Three Stages of Going Viral in 2015 According to the PIzza Rat Meme
[9] Reddit – New York City rat taking pizza home on the subway
[10] GQ – A Brief Q&A with the Guy Who Blessed Us with Pizza Rat
[11] VOX – Pizza Rat: New York City's infamous rodent, explained
[12] CNN – PIzza Rat, Our Newest Obsession
[13] Slate – Pizza Rat Is OK, but Pizza Bear Is by Far the Superior Pizza Animal
[14] Facebook – Matt Little's Video
[15] DNAInfo – VIDEO: Rat Drags Entire Slice of Pizza Down Subway Stairs
[16] BuzzFeed – This Rat Took Some Pizza On The Subway And Everyone Lost Their Shit
[17] Mashable – Rat carrying pizza slice will teach you what it means to have a dream
[18] Imgur – Search Results for Pizza Rat
[19] Giphy – Search Results for Pizza Rat
[20] Look Human – We Love Pizza Rat
[21] Cheezburger – This New York City Rat Would Like His Pizza Dinner To-Go
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Top Comments
Mr. Man
Sep 22, 2015 at 05:11PM EDT
Nebula
Sep 22, 2015 at 04:52PM EDT