'What are those' meme creator Young Busco dies at 31
Internet comedian Young Busco, who skyrocketed to online stardom with his "what are those" Vine, has died at the age of 31.
The father of five, whose real name is Brandon Moore, died in his sleep on Sunday morning, People reported Tuesday. His cause of death is currently unknown and there has not yet been an autopsy.
The "what are those" Vine is one of the most famous to ever hit the now-defunct platform, spawning dozens of riffs and parodies as well as a permanent place in internet parlance. In the 2015 clip, which was ripped from Moore's Instagram account, Moore approaches a police officer as he arrests Moore's friend Myesha, then yells "what are thoooooooose" at the officer's sensible, hideous shoes.
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Aside from being extremely funny, the meme was a remarkable subversion of power structures. (The police have disproportionately immense power, but what they don't have is cultural capital.)
In its later iterations, "what are those" became a way to take jabs at otherwise powerful (but not always sinister) figures, including Michael Jordan. It also became the premier way to make fun of people's dumb shoes.
Despite the meme's enormous reach, though, Moore wasn't a huge fan of his viral success. He particularly disliked the meme's cameo in Black Panther, telling HuffPost in March that "every time I see that shit, I get depressed."
Moore was disillusioned largely because he didn't see the fruits of his labor. A month after the meme went viral, Moore was sent to jail on a narcotics charge and for violating probation. When he got out, the moment had already reached its peak. He didn't even have the chance to file a copyright, which plagued him as he saw others profit from his work.
Still, Moore expressed several times over the years that he was happy to have created such a valuable slice of culture. "Like, I feel good I created something that’ll be with the world forever, but then I feel bad because I didn’t handle my business part correctly," he told HuffPost.
"It's actually cool in a sense," he told Vice in 2015. "Everything I do, I do for the people anyway. That's where my fulfillment comes from."
According to a post on Moore's Instagram account, a vigil in his honor will be held in Berkeley, California in his honor Friday night.
Topics Memes Celebrities
Chloe was the shopping editor at Mashable. She was also previously a culture reporter. You can follow her on Twitter at @chloebryan.
