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Viral videos

  • Kitten rescued from Tesla’s bumper, adorable viral videos emerge

    By on 17 June, 2017

    If you're a kitten living life to the fullest on the weekend, what do you do? This particular fluffball thought spending it inside a Tesla would be a great idea. A Tesla Model X owner woke Saturday to find faint meows coming from the car's rear bumper. Because the internet loves cats, he swiftly uploaded a video to YouTube. Adorable right? Tesla CEO Elon Musk also thought so. Probably picking up on the news from feline-loving staffers, he tweeted the video on Saturday which seemingly put the story on the map. Within minutes, the tweet accrued over 600 retweets and 2000 likes. Tesla service...

  • YouTube videos capture devastation of Cape Town storm, Knysna fire

    By on 9 June, 2017

    We use the likes of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook extensively when covering stories across South Africa, but when the Cape Town storm rolled across the peninsula this week, citizens took to YouTube to upload their clips. Although some of the videos were hoaxes, clearly edited to incite viral reactions from those all too eager to hit like and retweet buttons, other videos were genuine. And genuinely scary. At the time of writing, nine of the top 12 trending videos on YouTube in South Africa is related to the Cape Town storm or Knysna fires. Read more: Memeburn's in-depth coverage of the #CapeStorm and...

  • Hikers, T-rex throw impromptu dance party on Lion’s Head

    By on 26 May, 2017

    With the taps running ever drier in the city, it seems that a select number of Cape Town residents have finally lost their minds. A group of fun-loving people decided that a great way to spend a Thursday morning would be to hike Lion's Head and have a mild party at the summit. Featuring an orchestrating human in a colourful leotard, an endangered tyrannosaurus rex, and a number of people Beyonce might think twice about hiring for her latest video, the top of the 600m peak was for but a brief moment a dancefloor. Lion's Head is one of the more popular...

  • Catchy ‘Under The Sea’ parody teaches Cape Town how to save water

    By on 24 May, 2017

    You might think Katy Perry's Swish Swish is catchy, and when you throw Backpack Kid into the performance it sure is difficult to shed that jam from your psyche. But let's be real: does Perry's track help Cape Town citizens save water? No. No, it doesn't. But this gem of a jingle does. Written and performed by teacher, rock band member and Capetonian Emma Engers, this parody of Under The Sea from Disney's The Little Mermaid teaches residents how easy it is to save water. Cape Town, seriously now, don't flush when you pee Although it's a parody, it does pack some pertinent...

  • Shiba Inus borking at fidget spinners is YouTube’s next viral craze

    By on 23 May, 2017

    Although we've seen some pretty incredible things done with fidget spinners, some people still believe they're a waste of time, and potentially deadly. It seems that Banana, a lovable but derpy Shiba Inu has just joined the latter camp. A clip of the fluff ball and his human went viral this week after YouTube channel ShibeNation republished it. That version of the clip has over 730 000 views, and 21 000 likes. And it's easy to see why. Not sure whether to bork at it loudly or destroy it with his bare teeth, Banana has a mild internal conflict between his natural...

  • Katy Perry’s ‘Backpack Kid’ swishes his way into SNL history

    By on 22 May, 2017

    Sit down, Katy Perry. Clearly the people came to see the Backpack Kid. Performing at SNL this past weekend, the pop star whipped out her latest and catchiest single of 2017 dubbed Swish Swish. And while her vocal performance was solid, there's one particular area in which she was upstaged. Ladies and gentlemen, @katyperry performing #SwishSwish live in Studio 8H! 🎶 https://t.co/opaqgz9jaF #SNLFinale pic.twitter.com/pyztFyOxka — Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) May 21, 2017 First spotted by Rihanna late last year, 15-year-old Russell Horning took to the stage at the end of the performance and "flossed" his way into SNL folklore. Now, it's not exactly unusual...

  • Fidget spinners are surprisingly good guitar picks, viral video suggests

    By on 12 May, 2017

    South Africa hasn't yet been infected by the global fidget spinner craze. Although you can purchase the distraction device at a number of stores, I've yet to see humans in the country playing with one out on the street. But that doesn't mean they aren't any less cool. Of course, these gadgets have also been given a bad rap, and dubbed a fad by many. But some have clearly taken up the challenge to make the fidget spinner, developed in the 1990s by Catherine Hettinger, publicly acceptable. Yes, you can also use a fidget spinner for things that don't quite involve fidgeting Take...

  • Michael Bay-like motorcycle explosion from China caught on tape, goes viral

    By on 11 May, 2017

    Usually its Russia that's on the receiving end of bad driving memes and videos, but last Saturday it was a Chinese motorcyclist who made all the wrong headlines. In Nanchang, China, a motorcyclist collided with a truck attempting to turn into a three-lane road. The bike, caught between the truck's cockpit and dump tray, then exploded, setting the motorcyclist on fire. It all looked a lot like a set-piece in a Michael Bay movie. A motorcyclist in China escaped with his life, and a few more Instagram views, after his fiery crash went viral Remarkably, the motorcyclist didn't sustain any "life-threatening injuries" after...

  • John Oliver, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner probably won’t have dinner together soon

    By on 24 April, 2017

    Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner -- two White House residents that you've probably heard of, but have no idea what they actually do. That's the message the latest episode of John Oliver's Last Week Tonight highlighted this weekend. As President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law respectively, Ivanka and Jared have been given fairly significant jobs without actually being elected. They're effectively Donald Trump's shoulder angels, with Ivanka taking a formal "assistant to the president" tag, while Kushner... well, the actual President, it seems. For a man who "can't even get nepotism right", Oliver quips, Donald Trump isn't devoid of criticism in this...

  • Trevor Noah couldn’t resist poking fun at Donald Trump this Easter

    By on 19 April, 2017

    The White House's annual Easter Egg Roll is a pretty big occasion, and not just for the nation's kids. It's an informal chance for the US President to remind people just why they voted them in. But for Donald Trump, this fun-filled event backfired thanks to a number of gaffes. A number of these were picked up by media houses and late night shows, notably Trevor Noah's The Daily Show. And of course, he just couldn't resist poking fun at them. Suggesting that Steve Bannon was played by the frightened-looking Easter Bunny beside Donald Trump was just the start. Donald Trump's first...

  • April the giraffe finally gives birth and the internet loses its mind

    By on 18 April, 2017

    On 10 February, educational animal park Animal Adventure began a livestream of its pregnant giraffe. It soon went viral as viewers from all around the world tuned in, hoping for a glimpse at the glorious miracle of life. While the stream spawned theories of an April Fool's hoax (Animal Adventure were pulling in a lot of cash and also no good thing in 2017 is to be trusted), it turns out our worries were for naught. On Saturday, April gave birth to a healthy baby boy -- with more than a million people watching. It all started on Friday when April began pacing,...

  • Muzikifi: the story behind South Africa’s top trending YouTube video

    By on 13 April, 2017

    South Africa's most watched video on YouTube this week isn't a movie trailer, a snapshot of Pretoria's anti-Zuma protests, or even the latest episode of Skeem Saam. Nope. It's a mesmeric short of a man experiencing Soweto's cultural and musical delights for the first time. Random? Definitely. A remarkable watch? Oh yes. "Did she REALLY put a spell on me?">Did she REALLY put a spell on me? was published over the weekend and took South Africa's YouTube charts by storm. It steamed to the top of the trending list within three days, and remained there for much of the week. At present, the...

  • Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi ad has gone viral for all the wrong reasons

    By on 5 April, 2017

    Update, 6 April, 10.00am: Pepsi has since issued an apology and removed the advert from circulation. pic.twitter.com/I21nQl68cY — Pepsi™ (@pepsi) April 5, 2017 Many believed the apology to Kendall Jenner -- rather than activists at large -- to be a misstep. @pepsi @KendallJenner Apology to Kendall = ridiculous. Like screenwriter apologizing to actor for being in bad movie after reading script. — Sidaya "Sid" (@SidayaSherwood) April 5, 2017 @pepsi In your next apology, I suggest you apologize to victims of police brutality and those who *actually* protest such atrocities... — Brandy Reese (@blreese) April 5, 2017 Jenner has not yet issued a statement. Original article: Pepsi has long been known...

  • This siamese kitten is absolutely ecstatic about the week ahead

    By on 3 April, 2017

    I love cats, but I find it surprisingly difficult to tell if they're having fun, or are genuinely distressed. Take this siamese kitten for instance. Already featuring on Imgur's front page, this particular YouTube clip snapped by Derek Zimmerman shows his sister's cat absolutely losing its mind in a scratch toy. We're not too sure if it's thrilled about its new fluffy, hollow tree home, or utterly terrified of the week ahead. A cat-whispering YouTube commenter poses the below stream-of-consciousness: What is this? I like it. It feels nice. Bite it? Scratch it? Roll around in it? What is this? I like it a lot. Feels good. Seems about right. The video itself...

  • ‘South Africa’s dumbest criminals’ go viral, social media gets racist

    By on 17 March, 2017

    Three Johannesburg men found viral fame when they attempted to break into a house while the homeowner stood filming them. The men are oblivious to the fact they've been caught and continue to pry open the gate with a crowbar until the Orange Grove homeowner clears his throat. The men, confused and unsure of what to do, look at each other before walking slowly away from the gate. The video posted by TimesLIVE on YouTube has garnered 76 000 views in just over a day, alongside the original posting on Facebook that has picked up near on 30, 000. It has been shared...