A pure interview about corn spawns a late-summer meme.
First there was the video, then the song, then the dance. Now Corn Kid is a meme.
In the tradition of Zombie Kid, a young boy named Tariq has become a viral star simply for liking something and saying so publicly. The most popular video of him exclaiming “It’s corn!” and discussing its intricacies and flavors was posted on Aug. 4 by the meme account Doing Things, and it has more than 20 million views.
But it is originally from the account Recess Therapy, a kid-centric web series hosted by Julian Shapiro-Barnum.
Schmoyoho, the musician behind the viral “Chrissy Wake Up” song, also gave Corn Kid his own anthem. That clip has more than 57 million views, and the song has been used in more than 300,000 TikToks.
@schmoyoho intro song for any meal/snack with corn 🌽 – from iconic interview on @doingthings ♬ Corn but it becomes a song and unites world – schmoyoho
And now there are Corn Kid memes.
I have been laughing for 5 minutes and I have tears streaming down my face pic.twitter.com/J4RtLq9l65
— Miniature Mayhem™️ (@MelDubs) August 31, 2022
Head empty just corn kid pic.twitter.com/egDdpsYn09
— Kelsey (@notorious_KRG) August 26, 2022
With all this viral cache, Tariq has now made the jump to Cameo (as “Corn Kid”) and collaborated with Chipotle.
Wait for it pic.twitter.com/4ivkt8YJMy
— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) August 27, 2022
Of course, people are getting protective.
If you hate on Corn Kid it’s on sight
— Virgo’s Groove (@danielleradford) August 31, 2022
I will not be accepting any hate towards the corn kid when mason ramsey yodeling in walmart got him booked at coachella
— knife wife (@MiaOnSunday) August 30, 2022
“I just can’t get behind the corn kid” that kid is literally just cute and funny, and genuinely likes corn and these losers are calling a kid overrated???? pic.twitter.com/B15Jhlcohn
— Fiya baby 🌸 (@Fiyasohollywood) August 28, 2022
Yesterday, Recess Therapy announced that the “official” song is now a collaboration as well, and that proceeds are going to be “split with Tariq and his family.”
@recesstherapy Hey folks! We’re so excited to announce that, in partnership with Tariq, his family and @schmoyoho — we’ve launched “It’s Corn”, the official song of this crazy corntastic moment we all created together! All proceeds are being split with Tariq and his family. So, please support and give it a listen! It’s streaming everywhere💕🌽 #fyp #corn #spotifynewmusic ♬ original sound – Recess Therapy
