Chewbacca mask mom, Candace Payne.
Dallas-area mom, Candace Payne, has had the Internet in absolute hysterics with more than a whopping 135 million views on her Facebook live video simply trying on a Chewbacca toy mask in a parking lot. Her self-proclaimed birthday gift to herself has turned into a gift for the entire world after her infectious laugh went insanely viral as the most-viewed Facebook live video ever.
But now "Good Morning America" is learning the back story as to how Payne stumbled upon the now famous mask in the store, which she didn't intentionally seek out.
"I honestly wasn't there for the mask," Payne told "GMA." "I was there for myself for some yoga pants because I'm trying to work out more. And it's not really going that well, but I ended up going to the toy section because I got discouraged about the yoga pants and I thought, 'Maybe not today. But I can get a toy for my kids.' And I walk through the toy section and I accidently bump my shoulder into this box. And I had seen this before, but I didn't realize it made sound until that moment. It accidently started making the growl, and I went, 'I need to get that. Like, I don't think my kids need that, I think I need that.'"
The mother of two said she made a few other stops after leaving Kohl's, "and then it was just calling from the bag." She could no longer resist the urge to try on her new purchase.
"I was thinking, 'I've got 30 minutes before I have to be responsible and pick up my children from school and once they see this I'll never get to see it again,'" she recalled. "So I thought, I'm going to share this with my Facebook friends and family, and if anybody wants to see it, they're going to have to see it now. And I'm going to document. This was mine to begin with. This was never theirs."
Social media not only tuned in, but loved the video so much Payne has now spiraled into viral superstardom, something she's still having a hard time grappling with.
"I feel like I deserve a gold medal, just to say that I actually have broken a record that deserves maybe a podium and a whole song and maybe some flowers," she joked.
But more than anything, Payne is just thrilled she's been able to share a few laughs with the world.
This nonsense is what gets on TV while everything goes to shit.
But I'm glad to see a lot of commenters on youtube found it just as dumb and boring as I have, so maybe not everyone is completely brainwashed yet. I guess that means we still have a way to go before we hit the bottom.
Don't get me wrong, though. I have nothing against the lady having fun. Good for her. It's just that it's absolutely not news-worthy or going-viral-worthy. (And not even really funny, but to each their own.) When "someone somewhere did something silly" has 1000 times more views than "the bankers are screwing us all over", something's clearly wrong. Especially when this kind of garbage actually distracts people from the real issues.