Funny how the internet works.
You may have seen the appearance on News 24 of IT expert Guy Kewney, commenting on the recent legal case about Apple, who were sued by AppleCorps for trading in music on the "apple" name.
I didn't, but I wish I had, because they interviewed the wrong person. Apparently, the BBC hushed up their error, and it took the Daily Mail to publish a video of the interview on the net. It's quite funny – despite the obvious look of surprise when he is introduced, the interviewee manages to mumble out some vaguely coherent answers.
Within the space of a couple of days or less, though, the video has spread throughout the internet. The real Guy Kewney has been pleased to stand up and blog about it, noting that he as a bearded, white man could not have been more different from his clean-shaven, black replacement; while the "fake" Guy Kewney already has a myspace account made in his honour!
And the BBC, for their part, have finally held their hands up and made a bit of a joke about the error, identifying the man as the similarly-monikered Guy Goma, a graduate from the Congo who was at the BBC for a job interview and was most surprised to find himself on live telly.
Popular culture loves an unlikely hero, so I fully expect to see Guy Goma on chat shows, in reality TV programmes, and releasing a hit single within a few months.
Meanwhile Guy Kewney will be never heard of again, and will sue Guy Goma for trading on his name…
**UPDATE 16 MAY: The rise to stardom begins already. Front page of the Daily Mail, plus a return to BBC News 24 to talk about his experience, with the real Guy Kewney on phonelink.
**UPDATE 18 MAY: I guess it was only a matter of time: www.guygoma.com, plus an entry in Wikipedia. Remember it was predicted here first (maybe)!
BWAAA HAA HAAA HAAA!!!!
That is totally brilliant!!!!
I hope they gave him the job {:->
Also see: http://www.b3ta.com/board/5925898
I have a feeling this may become an internet meme very quickly.
An internet me me? That’s a bit selfish…
Yesterday’s Mail on Sunday (Niall’s, not mine honest) featured (“for one week only”) the Guy Goma Column, in which he gives his opinions on various newsworthy stories. All of these are, of course, in his “wacky” foreign broken English (not like the Mail to patronise foreigners, is it?). On Chavez meeting Livingstone: “Chaves is trying to do his best to help his country go up”. Right next to the column is a classic MoS story about getting him deported over a visa irregularity.
Simon, as you don’t seem to know about the Meme, and are involved in a search for a new church. Then maybe the Church of Virus can help you out. The meme is analogous to the gene but is considered to be a unit of information passed between brains, communicated verbally, visually or in any way in which the brain can pickup information. For More see http://www.memecentral.com/