‘Damn Daniel’ takes Internet world by storm

Recently, the 11 SHS students named Daniel have been receiving spontaneous compliments from their friends. This is no coincidence, but is the result of an Internet video that it seems everyone not living under a rock knows about. In late February, a video titled “Damn Daniel” went viral, leading people around the world use the phrase in daily life.

The video shows Riverside High School sophomore Joshua Holz outspokenly admiring Riverside freshman Daniel Lara’s fashionable ensembles — especially his white Vans.

Accompanied by Holz, the iconic voice in the video, 14-year-old Lara quickly rose to fame. In just two days, the video gained millions of views, circulating Facebook, Twitter and other popular social media platforms.

The video was originally a series of Snapchat stories on Holz’s account, with videos of Lara over a span of a few days in different outfits. What started as a joke between friends became a hobby as Holz began to get compliments on how funny the videos were.

Then, out of nowhere, the videos gained popularity on a national level, making both boys celebrities of the moment.

“The video has a really funny tone as [Holz] has a sassy British accent and [Lara] has great style that is extremely fashionable,” sophomore Nathon Chin said.

The video has an unexplainable catchy aspect to it, Chin added.

Sophomore Daniel Ortiz, one of the 11 Daniels on campus, knows first-hand how popular the video’s catchphrase is.

“The week it blew up was honestly one of the worst of my life,” Ortiz said. “[The chanting] was constant. Everywhere I went, people would say it to me.”

Similar to Lara’s case, most of the compliments Ortiz received resulted from his fashion choices, namely his red pants.

A normal high schooler by day and a celebrity by night, Lara expressed his disbelief at the magnitude of his fame, writing in a Facebook post, “This can’t be real! First Ellen Degeneres asks me to be on her show, [and] now Vans asked if I wanted to be in [their] next commercial.”

In an unexpected turn of events for Lara, his life suddenly became the envy of teens across the country. As the video about him gained fame, he was presented with dozens of  life-changing opportunities to a point where Lara wrote in a Facebook post, “Words can’t explain what I was feeling; still kind [of] shocked about all this.”