Where Are They Now: 6 "Stars" of Embarrassing Viral Videos

Being famous is awesome. That's what we heard, anyway.

But fame isn't so great for people who didn't ask for it, particularly the ones who got caught on video acting like a dumbass and turned into YouTube superstars overnight. We at Cracked have often wondered what becomes of those people who had their 15 minutes, whether they wanted it or not.

If you haven't seen the video ...

Everyone brags a bit on their resume, but no one did it as dramatically or badly as Aleksey Vayner when he submitted this video to banking giant UBS along with an 11-page cover letter and resume. In the video, Vayner shows that he's a dancer, a weightlifter, a karate expert and the least concise yet only correct answer to the question: what is a douchebag?

The Rest of the Story:
First, let's answer the question everyone asks after watching this video: no, he didn't get the job. In fact, it was probably someone at UBS that took the first step in turning him into a national laughingstock. That can safely be considered the opposite of getting the job.

After this video went viral, Vayner did what any "model of personal development and inspiration" would do: he moved back in with his mother and complained to the press about how he'd been victimized. Vayner said he underwent an "extremely stressful time" after the video was released and took a leave of absence from Yale, prompting Yale to cough douchebag under its breath and deny he ever went there. Vayner then sent a cease and desist letter to the blog that posted the video (IvyGate) to get them to take it down. They didn't. He also said he was exploring legal action against UBS for being the first to decide his video was simply too ridiculous not to share with the world.

So what has the whole adventure taught Alexsey? Well, when he eventually graduated from Yale he did stop sending the douchey video along with his resume when job hunting. What he has added to the resume, though, is the claim to have authored a book called Millionaires' Blueprint to Success. What kind of a man would write such a book before becoming a successful millionaire himself? The same kind who would steal the cover from another book already on the market:

Copies of Vayner's book don't seem to be for sale anywhere, but he did post excerpts on his site, which include the boast that his viral clip "received international publicity" and practically invented the concept of the resume video.

If you haven't seen the video ...
When Andrew Meyer stepped up to the microphone during a forum with former presidential candidate John Kerry, he had resolved to speak truth to power and challenge authority. Authority responded by pinning him down and filling him with thousands of volts of electricity. The video of this incident gained notoriety due to Meyer's pathetic plea to the police, asking them to allow this bro to go untased.

His cry went unheeded, hilarity ensued, and your moronic co-worker who thinks he's so damn funny had yet another annoying catchphrase to recite during meetings.

The Rest of the Story:
Meyer was thrown in jail for the night, on charges of resisting an officer and disturbing the peace. Students protested outside the jail, chanting "Don't tase me, bro!" even though Meyer had already demonstrated they were not the magic words to prevent a tasing. A movement was started online to ban Tasers by campus police, and John Kerry himself said there was no need for the cops to intervene (though we like to think this just means Kerry was armed with his own Taser).

By then the incident was national news. Meyer had public opinion on his side and the moral authority of a martyr. With this ammunition in hand, he courageously tucked his tail between his legs and issued a public apology to the university and the police for behaving inappropriately.

Prosecutors agreed to drop all charges if Meyer would complete a voluntary 18-month probation, though we tend to think that badly violates the definition of the term "voluntary." Meanwhile the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated the incident and declared that the cops' actions were justified.

Today, University of Florida police are still allowed to carry and use tasers on campus, the protesters have forgotten about it, and Meyer is back on campus where he presumably spends his days living with the knowledge that the pain he suffered brought about a change, albeit a temporary one ... in the world of 2007 novelty T-Shirt slogans.

If you haven't seen the video ...
During a morning newscast in 2002, Michael Scott was surrounded by some of the creepiest reptiles Texas has to offer, and it was a tiny lizard that transformed him from a polished newsman into a stuttering, inarticulate, flailing mess.

The Rest of the Story:

According to The Huntsville Times, Scott was let go earlier this year after a "dispute with a producer." The Huntsville Times has a serious gift for understatement, because in this case "dispute with a producer" means "committing an act of career self-immolation so complete that he's unlikely to ever get hired in his field again."

According to BET, the "dispute" was that during a commercial break, Scott referred to a co-worker as a Negro. When that co-worker asked him not to use that word, Scott, in an act of mind-blowing asshattery, decided to use the, um, other N-word and was fired shortly thereafter.

Although he's since denied using that word, at this point, we don't think even a humorous response to a dozen lizards jumping on him would resuscitate his career. Though we'd like to see him try it.