Steve Spiros
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About
Steve Spiros is the supposed name of a man interviewed on the street in a public freakout video filmed in Toronto, Canada by Fashion Studio 7, which was uploaded to YouTube in mid-June 2012. As of September 2023, Steve Spiros' actual identity remains unconfirmed.
Origin
On June 14th, 2012, the alfashion YouTube channel uploaded a video titled "Man Goes Crazy Rips off Shirt During Street Interview" (shown below). Within 11 years, the video gained over 4.2 million views.
My name? Oh-- Lemme tell you my name. Uhā¦ Iām confused. Because, uh, you know, like, weāre supposed to believe in the ministry, right? So is the-- i-- is the church and state supposed to be separate? Iām confused ācuz I never went to school. Right? Does a confused person get a resolution? I donāt understand. You see, when you go like that, (holds fingers in a ācrossā formation) right, you have a cross, two sticks, right? And thatās how I felt when I was in Waterloo. āCuz when I walked in Waterloo and smiled at people, they treated me like a vampire. They used the cross and they went like āthisā (cross gesture) by not smiling at me. In Toronto-- Hey, hi guys, you know me: Steve Spiros? āEasygoing?ā Those who know me: Iām a nobody, yāunderstand? And you canāt kill a person with no body! So, why am I afraid? Iām not afraid! Iām afraid of the Boogeyman! Whoās the Boogeyman? You figure it out! Iām gettinā outta here! Iām going back to Waterloo where the vampires hang out, and Iām gonna wear my sunglasses at night, ya know why? Because women show their t--s, have short skirts, and then they feel violated when I look at them! Why? āCuz I have sunglasses on and Iām weird.
Uhhā¦ Iām from Humberside? Iām sorry if, uh, I made a fool of Humberside, butā¦ All those people who called me a sleepwalker? I woke up!! Now Iām going back to sleep ācuz Iām gonna be committed in an isolation room, because Iām gonna go back to the ministry and allow them to perceive me as I am: a FUCK-UP!!! GOODBYE!
Hey Toronto the Good, look at-- look at this square. It was a shithole when I worked here, now it looks like New York, Manhattan! Where are the bums? Thereās no bums here. Toronto doesnāt have bums! But Waterloo, theyāre creating bums, they created ME! Why?! I donāt know! Maybe itās the church. Talk to the Pope, he knows everything. Iāve had it! Iām gonna die! How can you die when youāre DEAD! Oh wait a second, Iām gonna be crucified, right?
(Rips open shirt.)
sigh Iām not gonna raise my voice. āCuz Iām committed to the Lord. I love you.
Spread
For years after the video was posted, it inspired fascination. On April 17th, 2013, InformOverload interviewed "Alyssa," the woman in the video, about the experience, gaining over 57,000 views in ten years (shown below, left). On November 15th, 2017, YouTube channel All Def Comedy posted a reaction video to it, gaining over 229,000 views in six years (shown below, right).
On July 17th, 2017, the video was reposted to Reddit's /r/videos,[3] gaining over 11,000 points in six years. On March 4th, 2021, the /r/stevespiros[1] subreddit was created, dedicated to posts about the man in the viral video. On September 20th, 2023, a clip from the original video was submitted to the /r/WTF[2] subreddit, where it gathered upwards of 5,000 points in the first 11 hours.
Blackberry Waterloo Vampires Reference
On May 12th, 2023, the film BlackBerry, a biographical comedy-drama about the rise and fall of the BlackBerry mobile phone brand, was released in the United States and Canada. In the film, Jim Balsillie (played by Glenn Howerton) references the viral video by saying "I'm from Waterloo, where the vampires hang out" (shown below).
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