One small child’s confusion is the internet’s joy forever.
In 2013, the then two-year-old Chloe Clems went viral as her hilarious side-eyeing expression made her into a beloved internet meme. In her meme avatar, little Chloe has ruled over the hearts of many a Twitter and Reddit enthusiast and has been dubbed the “Patron saint of Tumblr” by Buzzfeed. But Side-eyeing-Chloe, as she is popularly known, has recently added a new feather to the cap of her impressive internet resume—as an NFT.
The Clems family is well aware of Chloe’s massive popularity in the meme community and decided that creating an NFT of the viral meme was a no-brainer. The family auctioned the NFT on Foundation, a popular NFT marketplace, on 24 September 2021. The NFT was sold to a Dubai-based music production company known as 3F Music for the price of 25 Ether, equivalent to about US$76,377.50. The money will go towards the education of the now 10-year-old Chloe and her sister, Lily, whose Disneyland surprise video is where the meme was screen-grabbed from.
The family watched the online auction unfold from their home in Utah, USA.
Katie Clems, Chloe’s mother, told BBC, “If we’re going based off meme sales before, it’s a bit lower, but we’re so grateful for what it sold for,” said Katie. “The money is awesome but it’s just the fact that we get to do this as a family is so much fun.”
Side-eyeing Chole has now joined the ranks of many other legendary meme NFTs. Many of these are considered fine art in their own right, fetching hundreds and thousands of dollars at auction. Some of the most well-known ones are “The Rare Pepes”, “The Nyan cat”, “The Doge meme”, “The Disaster Girl” and “The Overly Attached Girlfriend”.
“The Disaster Girl” and “The Overly Attached Girlfriend” were also both purchased by 3F Music for about US$500,000 and US$400,000 respectively.
To date, Chole remains extremely popular all over the world on various social media platforms. Her adorably disapproving face has been immortalized in meme culture, for eight years now and counting.
Image Courtesy of author
