So it's 2019, and everything is backwards. The government's shut down. Britain's breaking up with Europe. A plain ordinary egg is now the most-liked photo ever posted to Instagram, and that egg just emailed me.
The egg photo was posted on Jan. 4, and as of Jan. 15, it has more than 42 million likes. The account, titled world_record_egg, has 6.3 million followers. But so far, no one has been able to crack the identity of the person behind the account.
But I can tell you the egg has a name and is egg-ceptionally thankful for all the attention.
"Eugene the Egg is so appreciative of the amazing support, it has been incredible," the person behind the Instagram account told me in an email.Ā
When asked about the account's merchandise offerings -- currently, two shirts that say "I LIKED THE EGG" -- the response was, "We're dropping a new design every day, and giving 10 percent of that to a chosen charity."
An Instagram personalityĀ who goes byĀ Supreme PattyĀ and has 6.2 million followers was rumored to be behind the egg.Ā TMZ quotedĀ a reported friend of Supreme Patty saying he was responsible, but the egg account later posted to TMZ via Instagram Stories that "we're still anonymous. Fake news."
The egg confirmed this to me, writing, "We deny that we are Supreme Patty," but would offer no more details about his or her identity.
According to the UK Telegraph, the poster of the egg image lives in London, and took inspiration from a list of record-setting Instagram posts from 2018.
"I thought it would be an interesting experiment to try and beat the record with something as basic as possible," the egg poster told the Telegraph, "which led to me deciding on the egg."
As for Supreme Patty, although he may not be the person behind the egg, he's having fun with it, and is now urging followers to help break the record for most shrimp emoji Instagram comments on an egg-related post of his own.
He also posted video of himself apparently getting a tattoo of the egg. "You're so gonna regret that wtf," wrote Instagram user joonerboi.Ā
Turns out there are many famous pop-culture eggs out there.
George R.R. Martin, author of the books that inspired HBO's hitĀ Game of Thrones, got in on the egg-ceptional mockery by tweeting a photo of one of the famous dragon eggs from the show, with the words, "I, too, have a famous egg..."
I, too, have a famous egg... #Instaegg, #fun, #worldrecordegg #EggGang #eggsoldiers pic.twitter.com/6xEiofkLRX
ā George RR Martin (@GRRMspeaking) January 15, 2019
Or course, someone had to turn it into a "Where's the Winds of Winter?" demand.
I wish I could crack it open and find, instead of a dragon, the winds of winter š²š³
ā AnUbis (@Anubis1080P) January 15, 2019
Turns out Martin's not alone in his egg yolking. Harry Potter fans point out that their book and movie series also has a prominent egg. Retrieving the magical golden egg was part of the Triwizard Tournament detailed in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
As do we. pic.twitter.com/18L3Ewj7Qz
ā Professor Snape (@_Snape_) January 15, 2019
ā Phantom Bandit (@Over726) January 15, 2019
But eggs aren't for everyone. Wrote Christine Sydelko on Twitter, "I'm unfollowing everyone who liked that egg photo."
Iām unfollowing everyone who liked that egg photo
ā Christine Sydelko (@csydelko) January 15, 2019
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