Thirteen-year-old Danielle Bregoli used to be just another troublesome teen with a bad attitude. She lives in Florida with her single mom and has an eccentric life filled with violent fights, stealing cars and running away.                 

             Upon first impression, one would wonder how anyone could possibly deal with such an intolerant and rude individual.

And to be honest, most people would never think that Bregoli would end up becoming one of the biggest internet sensations of all time.

She starred on an episode of Dr. Phil in September 2016, but rose to fame in early 2017 with the help of her attitude and famous saying, “Cash me ousside, how bow dat?”

The internet swooned. Every social media site was plastered with memes of the video and before you knew it, Bregoli was known across the nation.

Bregoli’s video from Dr. Phil now has over 21 million views and a countless number of shares across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Bregoli even started her own YouTube channel earlier this month and already has over 30,000 subscribers.

To add to her fame, up-and-coming rapper Kodak Black gave her the spotlight in a new music video for his song “Everything 1k,” which currently has over 10 million views on YouTube.

Bregoli was handed a career by simply not being a good person.

Bregoli’s new fame is part of a developing trend of Internet memes becoming “employable,” which is leading to a rather obscure category of celebrity. These are celebrities who are famous for reasons that they may or may not want to be defined by.

Chris Crocker was one of the earliest of these celebrities. He was thrown into fame after uploadeding a video that we all know as “Leave Britney Alone.” The video is basically an emotionally driven monologue from Crocker regarding the infamous Britney Spears meltdown. Crocker later admitted the video wasn’t serious, but his entire career was defined by it. You probably didn’t even know Crocker’s name until I mentioned his video.

While his video was purposeful, Bregoli’s wasn’t. The horrible attitude she displayed on the show is actually who she is as a person. People took to social media to praise it because they saw it as “funny” and “eccentric.”

But promoting that type of behavior is going to open a window for more people trying to become “internet” famous by doing the same things Bregoli does, or potentially much worse.

Especially in a time of such distress, the general public could use more positive influences, instead of pushing negative people into fame.

Saketh is a freshman in DGS.
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