Every year, several people unexpectedly become meme material thanks to the hard-to-describe internet humour, be it the woman who said ‘Hello friends, chai pee lo’ or the IAS coach who said ‘Baithne ka tareeka todha casual hai’. Similarly, back in 2017, a UK lad named Ferdi became a meme when he was hit by a cyclist while he was repairing his car. The cyclist who hit Ferdi shared a video of his justified outburst on YouTube which gathered millions of views. Ferdi’s phrase, ‘Why you coming fast’ became a meme. Recently, Ferdi appeared on a podcast and revealed how he was unable to turn his popularity into a lucrative business. The former mechanic also revealed that a few people also tried to profit from his viral fame without sharing any gains.
Fredi appeared on an episode of the Podghost podcast with hosts Yaz and Seff and said that soon after his video went viral, his friend’s son Snatchy offered to manage him. Snatchy said that many people wanted to meet him at clubs and bar events. Ferdi was paid anywhere between £200 and £700 (approximately Rs 18,000 to Rs 62,000) for each night for special events while his unofficial managers took big cuts. Ferdi said that he often demanded to sign a contract to streamline the payments but the contract never materialised.
At some point, Snatchy told him that he managed to get a contract from clothing brand Boohoo to make ‘Why you coming fast?’ t-shirts. However, even when this deal was finalised, Ferdi was only paid £7,000 to £8,000 (approximately Rs 6 lakh to 7 Rs lakh) from the deal, though he suspects that they made much more profit. Ferdi was also featured in a music video in 2018 that earned over 5 million views, but again said, “I didn’t make one penny from this music video."
Talking about these missed opportunities, he said, “I should be a millionaire. I wasted two years when I could’ve gone to work." He added, “I lost money actually because nobody wants to give me a job. They think I’m a millionaire, they think I’m lying to them."
Snatchy was also managing an Instagram account in Ferdi’s name and this account had hundreds of thousands of followers, but Ferdi did not have access to this account. Ferdi said that in early 2019, Snatchy came to his house and said, “You’re finished, you’re dead, nobody wants to see you." Currently, Ferdi is working as a delivery driver and is planning to launch a food review show called Ferdi Eats.
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