An unusual raccoon in Seattle has become a global internet sensation. Jimothy, the raccoon with short spine syndrome, rocketed to fame after a woman in Ballard posted a video of him on Instagram in mid-July.
Since then, there have been Jimothy memes, songs, a mural, t-shirts, a bobblehead and even a video game.
Jimothy has appeared on stadium screens at various Seattle sporting events. There have been signs for him at recent Mariners games. And the team is hosting a Jimothy Night Aug. 5, which will feature an exclusive t-shirt, with some of the proceeds benefitting the Ballard Food Bank.
The Daily Show host Jon Stewart even did a bit on Jimothy, calling him "a short king."
KNKX Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick talked with Stephen Groening, associate professor and chair of the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Washington, about Jimothy's rise to fame and why he has captured our hearts.
Interview Highlights
Not your typical viral video
There is a sense where it's everywhere now, and it seems sudden. But, in actuality, I think it took a few days to spread. Word of mouth was important because the original video is posted by someone who's not a celebrity, who's just an everyday Seattleite.
Jimothy is a safe topic
Animal videos, for the most part, are non-controversial. They're the kinds of things that you can talk to your family, friends and neighbors about. But Jimothy is a bit different from other dog or cat videos, partly because he does have this condition. He's a bit of an underdog. He is somebody that we're rooting for, someone that maybe we can see a little bit of ourselves in. We're slightly flawed, we're struggling, but we still have places to go and are still interested in the world around us.
Sense of community
The video of Jimothy was posted on the tail end of the World Cup. In some ways, the full embrace of this raccoon with a short spine can be viewed as an extension of our interest in the World Cup, particularly in teams who were the underdogs in the tournament. We wanted to keep the sense of community going.
Jimothy is real. He is also everywhere
The footage of Jimothy is clearly authentic. At a time when so much of our social media and internet feeds are really filled with fake images and artificial intelligence-generated images, it's refreshing. But today's technology has made it possible to cut and paste Jimothy into any video, photo, meme or social media post.
15 minutes of fame
Like the viral sensations before him, Jimothy will fade away into our memories as some other phenomenon occurs. But he will always be in our hearts.
