One of YouTube’s most beloved videos will soon be taken down. The viral video ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ has been sold as an NFT for a staggering $760,999. The family began a live auction of the video on May 22 – the 14th anniversary of the YouTube video since its upload.
The video has been viewed 883+ million times and features brother Harry Davies-Carr, then 3, getting his finger bitten by his younger brother Charlie. Harry initially giggles at Charlie’s attempt to bite his finger but later shrieks after Charlie bites down harder – which led to his viral catchphrase “Charlie, that really hurt!”. At one point, ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ was YouTube’s most-watched video and was ranked #1on Time’s list of YouTube’s 50 greatest viral videos.
Matthew Liu – a former product manager at YouTube – believes that ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ left behind a huge legacy and defined the landscape for future viral videos to come:
“This video, in particular, really captivated the entire world’s imagination. It was really, really amazing to see that internally. It’s literally the definition of a viral video.”
The NFT auction began with an initial bid of $99,999 but soon climbed up in price due to steep competition between two bidders. The final bid was won by “3fmusic” – who won against “mememaster” – giving him sole ownership of the original copy of the video. Moreover, the new owner will have the opportunity to create a parody video featuring the now grown up brothers Harry and Charlie.
After the auction, “Charlie Bit My Finger’ was unlisted from YouTube and will reportedly be deleted off the platform soon.