On May 31, 2007, 10 year-old Jonathon Ware attended the Rose Festival in Portland, Oregon. Like any other 4th grade boy, he got his face painted like a zombie and checked out the turtle exhibit. Did he enjoy the turtles more than any other normal person would? Maybe a little bit. After all they were still on his mind when he was interviewed by a local news station later that day. It was a short segment, less than 30 seconds long, and by the end of it, Jonathon has said a grand total of three words: “I like turtles.” Those three little words would change his life, and the lives of millions…FOREVER!
After the video was uploaded to YouTube, Jonathon quickly became a cult celebrity. Hundreds of commenters echoed the same sentiment: “this kid is awesome.” But despite his ballooning popularity, Jonathon and his family didn’t learn about his fame until his sister got a MySpace message from a friend: “Do you know about your brother? He’s freakin’ famous!”
So, obviously, we had to make an “I Like Turtles” t-shirt. Check out zombie-Jonathon below…