Area 51 Naruto Runner

About

Area 51 Naruto Run refers to the online nickname of Elia Elixir, an attendee of the Storm Area 51 event who photobombed a live newscast by performing Naruto Run as referenced in the original description for the event. The run, a parody of an action performed by the titular character from the anime Nartuto, features a person running with their arms stretched behind their back and their torso hinged at the waste. Video of the newscast went viral on various websites and inspired a series of image macro memes.

Origin

On September 20th, 2019, at the Storm Area 51 event, KTNV newscaster Joe Bartels reported on the event as Elixir Naruto ran behind him. That day, KTNV posted the video on YouTube, where it received more than 1,600 views in less than four days (shown below).

Spread

That day, Twitter @palmerdebra shared the video of the run, receiving more than 26,000 likes and 9,700 retweets in less than four days (shown below).

Shortly after, Twitter^[1] user @MunaNawabit1 tweeted the video with the caption, "#LiveFromTheArea51Raid the kid that runs behind the reporter is going down in history." The post received more than 176,000 likes, 56,000 retweets and 5 million videos.

Who else are excited to see what happens with the Area 51 saga?? But this kid running past behind the reporter will definitely go down in history. 🤣 #area51 #area51raid pic.twitter.com/e9bqllHG98

— Debra Palmer (@palmerdebra) September 20, 2019

That day, following the spread of the video, KTNV interviewed the runner, revealing his name to be Elia Elixir. The interview received more than 9.2 million views in four days (shown below).

That day, people began using screenshots of the image in object-labeled image macros. Redditor ^[2] cafecl0pe shared a version in which the runner personifies the creation of a rainbow The post received more than 70,000 points (95% upvoted) 270 and comments in three days (shown below, left).

Over the weekend, others shared variations of the memes using the image of the runner (example below, center).

Redditor^[4] Tutankhhamun shared an object-labeled image from the American television comedy The Office. Within three days, the post received more than 136,000 points (96% upvoted) and 500 comments in three days (shown below, right).

Additionally, on September 20th, Redditor^[3] Hoggord shared a GIF of the moment. The post received more than 120,000 points (92% upvoted) and 2,500 comments in three Says (shown below).

Several media outlets covered the video and memes, including TIME,^[5] CNet^[6] and more.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References