The viral “Charlie Bit My Finger” video will soon be deleted from YouTube after it was sold as a non-fungible token (NFT). Almost 15 years after the video was first uploaded in 2007 and became a “lovable piece of internet history” that “helped YouTube grow,” the video was auctioned off as an NFT on Sunday for a whopping $760,999.
The Davies-Carr family, the family behind the viral clip, auctioned the clip as an NFT over the weekend, giving fans the chance to “own the soon-to-be-deleted YouTube phenomenon, Charlie Bit My Finger, leaving you as the sole owner of this lovable piece of internet history.” After bids were slow to come in on Saturday, a bidding war on Sunday between anonymous bidders “3fmusic” and “mememaster” saw the price skyrocket, with “3fmusic” ultimately claiming the rights with a $760,999 bid. That number is even higher than the nearly $500,000 winning bid for the “Disaster girl” meme NFT last month.
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According to the family’s website, the winner “will have the opportunity to create their own parody of the video featuring the original stars, Harry and Charlie.” As the NFT of the video has been sold, “Charlie Bit My Finger” will also be deleted from YouTube. At the time of this posting, however, the video is still available for viewing. It is unclear when exactly it will be deleted.
First uploaded to the video-sharing platform on May 22, 2007, “Charlie Bit My Finger” features Harry, then 3, and his then 1-year-old brother Charlie. As Harry puts his finger in his little brother’s mouth, Charlie bites down and doesn’t let go, leading to the now often-quoted line, “Ouch, Charlie bit me! That really hurt, Charlie!” Since it was uploaded, the 55-second-long video has racked up over 882.3 million views on YouTube.
Speaking to the New York Post ahead of the auction, the video’s stars, who are now 17 and 14, opened up about their decision to auction the video as an NFT. Charlie told the outlet, “NFTs is the new thing. When we posted, YouTube was the new thing, but now NFTs is the exciting new thing.” Their father, who recorded and posted the original video, added, “we were one of the first to embrace YouTube and we’re being one of the first to embrace NFTs and cryptos.” The auction and upcoming removal of the video from YouTube comes just after the video marked its 14th anniversary.
