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Dieunerst Collin, aka the Popeyes Kid, actually landed that brand deal with Popeyes after the internet discovered he was a D-II college football lineman at Lake Erie College and was attempting to meet with the fast-food chain earlier this week.
Let’s get this bread(ing)✍️ https://t.co/rnQaxBNAiz
— Popeyes (@Popeyes) January 11, 2023
On Sunday, Collin started publicly advocating for himself, seeing a potential business partnership with Popeyes after the years his meme arguably helped give the brand awareness on social media. Much of the internet agreed and pushed for Collin to get a NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) deal with the "Louisiana Kitchen" chain.
After mere days, the deal got done, making for quite possibly the highest-profile brand deal a Division II college football offensive lineman has ever received.
Popeyes has signed Dieunerst Collin to an NIL deal.
"The Popeyes meme kid" is an OL at DII Lake Erie College 🙌
(via @CollinDieunerst) pic.twitter.com/YH361KC1ov— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 11, 2023
A recent loosening of rules surrounding college athletes notably made the deal possible. As we noted Monday, though the "Popeyes Kid" meme is around 10 years old, he has chosen to pursue the NIL deal now because the NCAA recently allowed college athletes to profit off their names, which hasn't been the case for decades up until now. Collin, now 19, is fully able to see residuals from his partnering with Popeyes without jeopardizing his playing career.
Granted, these residuals may not be much and the exact details are unknown. While it's heartwarming that Popeyes has officially signed the holder of their brand's biggest meme to a business deal, some commenters have conceded that there likely isn't a ton of money behind the deal — it's not like Popeyes is signing Tom Brady after all.
Still, the fact that any deal at all was signed was celebrated as a win for Collin and meme subjects like him, who still rarely see any compensation at all even when their faces are some of the most famous on the internet.
One of the biggest NIL dubs I’ve seen
— Noah (@supernoahhh) January 11, 2023
Good for him! “Meme famous” and has an NIL w/ @Popeyes (would’ve killed for that in college…ate a lot of those red beans ‘n rice over the years).
— Dr. Rob Zatechka (@DocTalkSports) January 11, 2023
— B. Chordial (@BChordial) January 11, 2023
In the following days, Popeyes uploaded a video to its official Instagram alongside Collin with the caption "from memes to dreams. @dieunerst reads a letter to his younger self," which quickly racked up tens of thousands of likes and even more views as the post was widely celebrated across social media.
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