Have you seen the interview of a young boy of fifth grade studying in Riverside Elementary, shown in the newscast at night?...No…? Then you are missing something terribly hilarious. This was a 17 seconds video clip, taken in the middle of the Rose Festival, featuring Jonathon Ware who lives in Milwaukie, Oregon. Wearing his painted face, Jonathon, a pet lover, looks astoundingly like a zombie kid.
Shooting of the whole episode was done on May 31 and that ultimately rippled the internet world and made the boy a star celebrity. Could anybody imagine such a bashing effect of it at that moment? Even his family was also stunned to see the sensational video clip which was later copied to the other websites, blogs and the YouTube too. It has been aired for more than a few weeks and several millions have already got the chance to view and enjoy it thoroughly.
Are you yet to fathom the secret of Jonathon’s celebrity trick? Well, it was just a flat statement, an apparently inconsequential claim wrapped in three effortless words…“I like turtles”…and…(Ahem)……Jonathon became famous.
It was Nancy Francis, the interviewing journalist, who came across Jonathon in the Rose Festival in Ore of Portland and stopped him for a few moments to dig up a few comments for her "Look what's happening downtown" show. Jonathon had just completed his facial painting from a booth and was looking incredible, just like a Zombie.
The camera zoomed in to capture Jonathon’s painted face but he gave nothing but a long blank zombie-stare at the lens. As Nancy praised his new style statement and asked him about his splendid face painting experience, he pronounced in a fastidious tone…“I like turtles”…!...OOOPS…, can you imagine…!!
Viewers never feel worn-out to write comments about Zombie-Jonathon and that actually helped him to reach the pinnacle of fame. He had even been named as the ‘viral-video celebrity’ by some of them.
Jonathon himself was also happy to taste his instant fame and was feeling pompous too. But it was a fun for him at the same time. Later on when he was asked about his “I like turtle” statement, he revealed that prior to the interview he was watching turtles which impressed him so much that he uttered instantaneously…“I like turtles”.
After that interview, useables like messenger bags, buttons, caps and T-shirts portraying Jonathon’s zombie face and his comical statement... “I like turtles” are available in the market.
