Ryan Reynolds Parodies Viral FYRE Festival Meme

URL copied to clipboard.

“How far would you go for your company?” asks Ryan Reynolds in his new ad for Aviation Gin, a 70-second clip of pure melodrama and a stiff (no pun intended) punchline featuring the Fyre Festival Meme King.

Reynolds, best known as the creative force behind and star of the Deadpool franchise, spends most of the ad in a rustic workshop, bent over the kiln where bottles of his famous gin are made (or blown, technically speaking) from molten glass. Reynolds’ voiceover reflects on the history of his company, while an angelic choir sings in the background.

But the ending of the clip is the real kicker, where it is revealed that the ad itself is being watched at a bar by none other than Andy King, the event producer who became a meme back in January for his, er, business-savvy determination.

King became an Internet sensation when he sat down for a Netflix documentary about the disaster that was the Bahamas-based Fyre Festival – which ultimately turned out to be a scam. In King’s own words, he was at one point fully prepared to “take one for the team” by giving a blowjob to a customs agent holding fresh water for the event.

“I literally drove home, took a shower, I drank some mouthwash,” King says in the documentary. “I got into my car, to drive across the island to take one for the team. And I got to his office, fully prepared to suck his dick.”

This extreme level of commitment didn’t end up being necessary, but King still became the literal face of a new meme after the documentary dropped. You might have seen these memes a few times earlier this year.

ADVERTISEMENT

 

In the Aviation ad, King is a good sport about his somewhat dubious fame. After watching Reynolds on TV, King nods approvingly and says “This guy gets it,” before ordering – you guessed it – a glass of Aviation Gin.

King has talked openly about his memedom before. “I don’t want to be known as the ‘d*ck-king of the world,” he said in a recent post-documentary interview, but he added “I think I can utilize this moment to do a lot of good.”

Reynolds, meanwhile, has a history of using viral memes (especially risque ones) to promote his brand, whether that be a film like Deadpool 2 or Aviation Gin, which he purchased in 2018.

What do you think of Andy King’s comeback? How far would you go to save your business? Let us know in the comments!

ADVERTISEMENT

 

 

More headlines