Obituary

In 2002, a Quebec teenager filmed himself swinging a golf club tube like a lightsaber in his school's video studio, imitating Darth Maul with startling commitment. A classmate found the tape and uploaded it in 2003. The internet, still young and merciless, made it the most-downloaded video of its era — before YouTube existed, before virality had a name. The kid's family sued the classmates who leaked it and reached a settlement; the meme died in 2004, when the boy's humiliation stopped being a punchline and started being a cautionary tale. He was the first person to be famous against his will. The internet has been perfecting that crime ever since.

Born

2003

Died

2004

Cause of death

Died of a lightsaber to the ego

Last sighting

A school video studio, Quebec, 2004

Resting place

Section Z, Row 5 — the ancestral plot

Category

event