'Damn, Daniel' video deleted from the internet after creator Josh Holz has Twitter account hacked
The film racked up hundreds of thousands of retweets — and then disappeared
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The original “Damn, Daniel” video has been disappeared from the internet after its creator had his account hacked.
Josh Holz’s post — which featured a video made up of edited Snapchat footage of him exclaiming to his friend — became one of Twitter’s most retweeted videos ever last week. And then, even more quickly, Mr Holz’s account was hacked and the video deleted.
The hack saw the account post white power and Ku Klux Klan propaganda to the 165,000 followers that Mr Holz has gained since the post became famous. Those images were then deleted when the account was returned to its owner, but the “Damn, Daniel” video was disappeared.
Mr Holz tweeted to apologise for what had been posted, saying that there “are some really sick people out there and I'm sorry you guys had to see all that”.
His other tweet included a plea to “#getthevideoback”.
The post has already been mirrored and re-posted a number of times. That includes on Mr Holz’s own YouTube page, where it has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
But Twitter was where the post originally took off. The YouTube video has received just 247,000 views — far fewer than even the number of retweets that the original Twitter post had.
The success of the post made both Mr Holz and Daniel Lara — the “Daniel” whose style and shoes are being commented on in the video — internet and then real life famous. The two appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show to discuss their success and the meme was quickly referenced by a slew of brands and parodies.
Mr Lara has also been hit by the dark side of internet fame. Last week it was reported that his house had been "swatted", when someone called the emergency and sent armed police to his California home.
It isn’t clear who hacked into Mr Holz’s account, or how it came to be compromised.
Twitter isn't thought to be able to restore individual tweets after they are deleted, meaning that the video and its hundreds of thousands of retweets will be lost forever.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments