Voting Station

Daniel Lara (Damn Daniel)

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Oddity

The Resume

    (April 4, 2001- )
    Vine/YouTube star
    Student at Riverside Poly High School (California)
    Subject of the viral video compilation 'Damn Daniel' (originally posted to Snapchat)
    Original video was re-tweeted more than 300,000 times; received 400,000 Likes on Facebook
    Videos frequently featured friend, Joshua Holtz (filming), exclaiming 'Damn Daniel!' and 'Back at it again with the white Vans!'
    Famously sports a navy blue hoodie, skinny chinos, a burgundy backpack and slip-on sneakers, in the original video

Why he might be annoying:

    He is basically Alex from Target 2.0.
    Parents and teachers had to suffer through weeks-on-end of 'Daaamn Daniel' from their kids, who binge-watched the Vine loops/EDM remixes.
    A perplexed Tech Insider article commented that 'It’s hard to explain why [the video is] so funny.'
    Skeptics have been accused of being jealous for the sin of asking if he does something in the video other than 'wear white vans.'
    He asked Gigi Hadid to be his prom date during a joint Red Carpet appearance, but she politely declined (which probably didn't shock him, since he admitted she was 'busy with Zayn').
    He was the victim of an internet hoax claiming he had been beaten and robbed for his white Vans , prompting the hashtag #DamnPrayForDaniel.
    His image and the phrase 'Damn Daniel' were quickly appropriated for several marketing campaigns (including Clorox, Axe, and even Twitter fan fiction on Denny's Twitter page).
    His popularity resulted in more than 800 listings for 'Damn Daniel white Vans' appearing on eBay the week the video went viral, including one pair listed for $400,000 (Lara would point out that they obviously weren't his, because they had laces and weren't slip-ons).
    The media frenzy surrounding the video loop also resulted in Joshua Holtz being subjected to a prank call to police claiming he had shot his mother and was on the verge of shooting himself (his house was stormed before it was determined to be an act of 'swatting').

Why he might not be annoying:

    His and Holz's videos were harmless and innocent fun.
    His favorite movie is 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.'
    He turned down several modelling agency offers.
    He is a sprint freestyler on his school Swimming team and hoped to go to college on an Athletic scholarship.
    He and Josh Holtz made a cameo appearance in Weezer's 'California Kids' music video.
    Vans' sales peaked dramatically after his video went viral.
    He received a lifetime supply of Vans' shoes during his Ellen Show appearance, while Josh received a surfboard with 'Damn Daniel' inscribed on it (Lara later donated the shoes to a local children's hospital).
    He was listed as one of Time Magazine's 'Top 30 Most Influential People on the Internet' (2016).
    He was featured in YouTube Rewind 2016, sporting a pair of (literally) shimmering white Vans.
    He remained level-headed despite attaining celebrity in an incredibly short time span (and in his Sophomore year of high school no less!)
    When asked to explain the video's popularity during a Rolling Stone interview, he answered: 'The videos are just pure randomness. There was nothing planned in any of those videos. It was us being stupid together. I don't know if that's what made it go up .... It's so crazy. I never thought it would have been viral.'

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 11 Votes: 72.73% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 17 Votes: 82.35% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 58 Votes: 56.90% Annoying