When stars go viral, the whole Internet rejoices! And one of the most surprisingly viral celebrities these days is none other than Keanu Reeves. The actor has gone blown up the internet numerous times over the last decade. There was the iconic Sad Keanu meme that made the rounds after he was snapped by paparazzi looking particularly downtrodden on a bench. There was that time he went viral for giving a particularly sweet answer to the question, "What happens when we die?" as he thoughtfully replied, "I know that the ones who love us will miss us." He's also inhabited the role of the internet's boyfriend thanks to gentlemanly stories about how he got a shuttle for his fellow passengers after their flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles was canceled in 2019, how he gave up his seat on the subway in 2011, how he supports independent bookstores and also how he apparently never touches women in photos and instead has a "hover hand." In honor of this Internet sensation's 55th birthday on Sept. 2, 2019, Wonderwall.com is rounding up more celebrities' viral moments. Keep reading to check them out…
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Perhaps the original celebrity viral moment came way back in 2005 around the advent of YouTube. Movie star Tom Cruise stopped by "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that May — three months after YouTube launched — to talk about his latest flick, "War of the Worlds." While there, he got a little too excited while talking about his latest girlfriend, Katie Holmes, leading to the infamous moment where he got up and jumped on Oprah's couch. The bizarre display was immortalized forever on YouTube, with spoofs popping up everywhere and parodies infecting pop culture everywhere from "Family Guy" to "Sesame Street."
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What's better than an inside joke shared between friends? An inside joke shared between celebrities and their legion of diehard fans! When a vintage photo of Taylor Swift hilariously misidentified as bein ga pic of "Becky" made the viral rounds on Tumblr, a Swiftie quickly pointed out that the girl in question was the superstar. The original poster adamantly responded, "No, it's Becky." Then in 2014, Taylor gave her fans on Tumblr a wink by stepping out in a shirt that read "no its becky" and the Internet was delighted.
While performing during the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2014, Ariana Grande nearly got smacked in the face. The moment she ducked was caught on camera and, naturally, inserted in to all sorts of scenarios by people on the Internet.
It might sound odd, but the Internet has been known to have a boyfriend or two. As we mentioned with Keanu Reeves, occasionally, stars make themselves so endearing (or gorgeous!) that the internet wants to claim them as their own. In 2018, Noah Centineo was crowned the internet's boyfriend thanks to his adorable role in the smash Netflix movie "To All the Boys I've Loved Before." He elicited even more devotion when he starred in other flicks from the streaming giant like "Sierra Burgess is a Loser" and "The Perfect Date," solidifying his heartthrob Internet boyfriend status.
Rihanna's dress at the 2015 Met Gala took on a life of its own after Twitter got a hold of it. The insanely large and intricate gown made the rounds on the internet with users photoshopping it to turn it into all kinds of things — from a breakfast meal complete with scrambled eggs to a pepperoni pizza.
Leonardo DiCaprio has fallen victim to a meme or two in his day. While Leo was filming the movie "Inception" in 2009, a photo of him walking with a goofy grin was snapped and forever lived in infamy. Yep, the silly snap was dubbed "Strutting Leo" and imposed onto various other situations to make a joke on the web. Then, after Leo was photographed running bare-chested with a water gun a few years later, he got the meme treatment again: This one was dubbed "Leo Running Shirtless."
Who knew the act of clapping could cause such a stir? Nicole Kidman found out the hard way at the 2017 Academy Awards when her hand slaps went viral and were described as "seal clapping." It baffled the Internet, but it turned out there was a totally rational explanation: Nicole later told the "Kyle and Jackie O" radio show that she was clapping that way because of the jewelry she had on her fingers, explaining: "…it was really difficult because I had a huge ring on that was not my own, but it was absolutely gorgeous, and I was terrified of damaging it."
When Michael Jordan cried during his touching Basketball Hall of Fame induction speech back in 2009, he probably didn't realize the moment would later go viral. Specifically, a photo of Michael in tears later became an infamous crying meme that's still used on the Internet to this day.
Thanks to her hilarious tweets, Chrissy Teigen is no stranger to causing a stir online. Cut to her most iconic viral moment, which went down in meme history after it happened at the 2015 Golden Globes. When husband John Legend won best original song alongside Common for "Glory" from the film "Selma," the model was caught with a pretty awkward crying face that the Internet ran wild with.
Kanye West has inspired many a meme, but it's his infamous 2009 MTV Video Music Awards interruption of Taylor Swift that the internet will never forget (or forgive). "Yo Imma let you finish but…" has been used for millions of different scenarios on the internet at this point.
Scarlett Johansson has inspired a meme or two over the years. Her first major run-in with Internet culture came in 2011 after she was caught by a paparazzo falling down on the set of her film "Under the Skin," which led the internet to go to work. She was photoshopped into all kinds of situations mid-fall while clad in a dark wig, jeans and a fur coat — from riding a dolphin to performing in Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. More recently in 2019, the actress made headlines after she told As If Magazine, "You know, as an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job." The odd quote set the Internet ablaze, with Twitter users sharing photos of inanimate objects that they claimed were ScarJo.
Back in 2014, John Travolta lit up the Internet after presenting at the Academy Awards. The reason? While attempting to pronounce actress Idina Menzel's name, the actor called her "Adele Dazeem." He later explained on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" that he was a bit flustered after running into Goldie Hawn before he took the stage and blamed the gaffe on a phonetic spelling written out that he hadn't rehearsed that way.
Sometimes when taken out of context, scenes from movies can look pretty bizarre. Such was the case in 2018 when Daniel Radcliffe was snapped rocking pajamas and some seriously bizarre slippers while toting two guns in a scene from the movie "Guns Akimbo." The pictures instantly became meme-worthy, with many adding some "Harry Potter" punchlines.