With great power comes great responsibility: everyone knows the Blinking White Guy meme, and now he’s using his fame for good.
He’s been the staple of confused, bewildered tweets ever since 2017 – you’d be hard-pressed to scroll through Twitter today without seeing a GIF of his stunned, blinking mug.
But now, Drew Scanlon wants to turn that worldwide popularity into something truly positive: raising money to fight MS.
Calling on anyone who has previously found joy from the GIF, Scanlon asked his near-74,000 followers to make a donation to his Bike MS page – a national bicycle ride that raises money to support Multiple Sclerosis research.
At the time of writing, Scanlon has raised $28,296.99 – meaning he is less than $2,000 away from his goal.
Scanlon wrote on his Bike MS page:
I’m not usually one to toot my own meme horn but in this case I’ll make an exception
You see, two close friends of mine and members of their families suffer from MS, a debilitating disease of the central nervous system that interrupts communication between the brain and the body.
Millions of people suffer from MS and there is no known cure. This is where you come in.
The GIF spawned from a video game livestream, after Scanlon reacted to one of his colleagues saying ‘I’ve been doing some farming with my hoe here’ with raised eyebrows and several blinks.
Devout users of the meme praised Scanlon online, with one user writing:
What a great way to use your notoriety! Cheers mate – a donation to cure MS it will be.
Scanlon explained he embarks on a cycle from San Francisco to wine country every year as part of Bike MS – that’s over 120 miles. Though his ride ended on September 22, donations are still open until November.
He added on his page: ‘If a fraction of those who have seen my goofy face donated to MS research, I have a feeling we could kick this thing in no time!’
Back in 2017, Scanlon appeared on a segment about the year’s top memes on Good Morning America.
Check out the video below:
As well as recreating the perennial clip, he speaks about how we don’t ‘really have a way of communicating body language over the internet… memes are kind of that’.
Much unlike the GIF, Scanlon’s mission shouldn’t be confusing: if you wish to donate, you can find more information here.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.