Durban toddler slides into fame | News
A video clip of a Durban North toddler has gone viral, with celebrities Justin Bieber and Dane Cook reposting the 10-second link for their hordes of followers.
Originally posted on Facebook and YouTube, the video shows 2-and-a-half-year-old Parker Lewis going down the slide at People’s Park outside Moses Mabhida Stadium.
While going down, young Parker inadvertently bumps his head on the side of the slide, the momentum of which causes him to bump his head several more times on either side of the slide before he finally reaches the bottom, confused but unscathed.
Talking to the Daily News on Wednesday, Parker’s father, Nic, said he had not anticipated the video – which was originally posted after friends’ numerous requests – to go viral. It has been viewed millions of times.
He said he took the video on Christmas Eve to document Parker’s much-anticipated first attempt down the slide.
“He’d always wanted to go but every time he got to the top he changed his mind. This day he knew he finally wanted to go down the slide, which is why I filmed it in the first place.”
Parker’s 6-year-old sister, Madden, was at the top of the slide and can be heard laughing the entire time her younger brother bumps his way to the bottom.
“He was absolutely fine,” assured Nic. “He stood up, rubbed his head and then, when I started laughing, he laughed and ran back up to go again. He continued to slide several more times, which I also filmed.”
Nic said Parker had tried to slow himself down by putting his foot out but because he was going a bit faster than he anticipated, this threw him off balance and he ended up bouncing off the sides, rather than going straight down.
Nic’s wife, Kelly, posted the link on her Facebook page on Christmas Day and it was shared several times. “We have friends overseas who asked us if we could put the link on YouTube as it was easier for them to show other friends,” said Nic.
It was originally uploaded on to the video-sharing site last Thursday, which is when it “blew up”.
“In an hour it had 500 views and by morning there were 128 000 views. It’s been shared on Reddit, 9Gag, Liveleak, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube under different names.
“Every day I get a screen shot from a friend of people sharing it. It was also on a UK radio website.”
Then last Friday, American comedian and actor, Dane Cook, shared the video using the hashtag “no words”, and this was viewed almost 25 million times by his loyal followers.
Then on Tuesday, Canadian singer, Justin Bieber, posted the video on his Instagram account saying: “This is how I felt when I woke up this morning”.
This post received almost 700 000 likes and 58 000 comments from his “Beliebers”, most with the “laughing so hard I’m crying” emoticon attached.
Nic said he had mixed views about the fact that his home video had gone viral. “…We didn’t expect this to get so big.”
- Published in Independent Newspapers on 12 February 2015.
