If you’ve been using social media in the last few weeks, you’ve most likely come across a clip from an old episode of Louis Theroux’s BBC documentary “Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends”.
A one-episode segment aired in 2000 where the esteemed British journalist takes part in a rap battle has become the subject of remixes and viral memes in recent weeks, and the famous documentary maker has opened up about his success unexpected.
The “my money doesn’t shake, it bends” line, in particular, has received a lot of attention on the internet.
Speaking to The New York Times, the 52-year-old said he had mixed feelings about the rap going viral.
“I’m glad people appreciate rap,” he said. “At the same time, there’s a part of me that has mixed feelings. It’s a bittersweet thing to experience a defining moment of virality through something that, at first glance, seems so disposable and so distant. of what I actually do in my job. But here we are.
The segment was given a new lease of life after Netflix added the episode in 2016 and it created a cult following among Theroux fans for its staid, yet oddly endearing style of rapping.
A reporter asked her about the segment earlier this year, and from there, the clip went viral again.
“I got an email: ‘Hey, a remix of the rap you did on ‘Chicken Shop Date’ is going viral and doing amazing things on TikTok.” I’m like, ‘Well, that’s funny and weird,” the documentary maker said.
Best known for his hard-hitting documentaries that explore the fringes of society, the documentary maker said the whole affair “was an example of ‘the confusing 21st century example of the weirdness of the world we live in’.”
Theroux said his kids were baffled by their dad suddenly becoming a rap superstar, with his 14-year-old son particularly amused by the attention.
“Why is my dad, the cringest guy in the universe, all over TikTok?” Theroux explained.
“I left my stink all over his timeline,” he continued. “I think it made him very confused and slightly resentful.”
With so many remixes of the song going viral and raking in millions of streams, the question has been asked whether Theroux is making any money from the new spotlight.
“I sincerely hope that we can all shake the freak out. Or maybe a fold,” Theroux said, adding “so far it’s been pretty much on the choppy side.
Don’t expect to see Theroux headlining Longitude or selling 3Arena anytime soon, as the TV star has no plans to pursue a rap career down the road.
“It’s not like I have a catalog and, like, now I can release all my other novelty rap bits,” he said.
“I’m clearly not going to visit him. ‘Come and see Mr. Jiggle himself.’ It would be a 20-second gig,” he remarked.
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