November 30, 2017

"When Drake realized he had been caught on-camera pouring a delicious-looking can of pink-grapefruit Perrier into a cup at a Toronto Raptors game..."

".... did he panic because he realized he was, in that moment, inadvertently becoming a meme? Or did he panic in order to become a meme?"

I don't know, but... very charming, quite a talent:

When you get called to the principals office... @champagnepapi | #WeTheNorth

A post shared by Toronto Raptors (@raptors) on

32 comments:

tommyesq said...

Viral marketing?

Bad Lieutenant said...

Our firewall blocks your image repository and most social media stuff, so I can't see it, but without seeing, I feel sure that I don't care at all. How did this catch your eye?

Ralph L said...

Grapefruit Perrier? What a disgusting thing to do to a grapefruit.

Megthered said...

I dont know who this is or why i should care what he is drinking.

Unknown said...

He played it off well -- nicely self-effacing.

As for "delicious-looking can of pink-grapefruit Perrier", I assume Perrier doesn't mind this becoming a meme.

Of course, a cynic might suspect they paid Drake beforehand for the plug.

I don't know if I am that cynical or not.

- james james

Robert Cook said...

Why would Drake care if this photo was taken? Does he want his fans to assume he always and only drinks champagne or some other alcoholic beverage?

Fernandinande said...

These viral memes are so viral that I can't tell if I'm heartbroken, stunned or just bored, but I gather this Drake is neither waterfowl nor the guy who did stuff.

Unknown said...

"Why would Drake care if this photo was taken?"

Pink-grapefruit Perrier might be a bit... effete.

There are gay rumors.

Sometimes you add two and two together and the answer is grapefruit.

- james james

Fernandinande said...

I should admit, though, that pouring liquid from a can into a glass really is "quite a talent". I would try doing it if I had more confidence in my abilities.

Infinite Monkeys said...

Is this what you pour into your cup of ice after you've already poured in the vodka?

bleh said...

Don't be so gullible. This is staged, or at least expected. Drake is constantly being filmed at Raptors games. There is nothing natural or spontaneous about his reactions. It's all contrived.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

I don't know who Drake is.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Using the search string "who the hell is drake" produces:

Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Drake initially gained recognition as an actor on the teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation in the early 2000s.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

By the way, that search string auto-completed.

Fernandinande said...

BDNYC said...
It's all contrived.


Ya think?!?

Curious George said...

Ron Winkleheimer said...
I don't know who Drake is.

Love the Drake.

Chuck said...

I am guessing that Althouse doesn't realize that Drake isn't simply a Raptors fan, or a ticketholder/attendee. Drake, if memory serves me, is some kind of "brand ambassador" for the Raptors. And I think he's on the team's board of directors; he may be a co-owner/shareholder/whatever.

So yeah; as a distinct legal matter, Drake is part of the show.

What I wonder is what arenas allow cans of Perrier in the stands? Was Drake caught (and obviously not too concerned about being caught) with a beverage can that he shouldn't have had? I don't know. Are they selling cans of Perrier in any NBA arenas?

Bay Area Guy said...

Well, my kids like Drake, and so do I.

Hey, he's enjoying a little Bball, what's not to like?

He's definitely having a better week, then rapist Russell Simmons

themightypuck said...

Don't mess with the pamplemousse. That stuff is delicious.

LakeLevel said...

Is Althouse now being paid by Perrier and Amazon? Or is Google paying bloggers to spread commercial memes? This guy is exactly like a team mascot so why would anyone care about his act?

rehajm said...

Drake is the term for an adult male duck of any species. A male owl is not called drake unless someone named the owl Drake. There is no term for a male owl in English. In Spanish a male owl is a búho.

Robert Cook said...

Speaking of Pomplamoose...

Curious George said...

"rehajm said...
Drake is the term for an adult male duck of any species. A male owl is not called drake unless someone named the owl Drake."

Drake's penchant for owls is because he has a music festival in Toronoto called Octobers Very Own, or OVO (he was born on October.) The owl is the logo because OVO looks like an owl, at least to Drake.

I learned this today.

MAJMike said...

So what?

Krumhorn said...

Having a few celebrity clients who are parties to (what are known in the trade as) influencer agreements, this appears to my practiced eye to be entirely staged, but creative and done well. No doubt he had the cooperation of the arena so that it was put on the Jumbotron at that very moment. Strictly as a business matter, I’d love to know what his rate is. While it’s not typically calculated in terms of CPM, there seems to be a close approximation that works out to $7/000. Of course, Ronaldo blows every metric out of the water who is reported to receive $250,000/social media post. And Drake is no Ronaldo. Still, I gots to know!!

I love the sharp smell of vibrant capitalism in the morning.

- Krumhorn

madAsHell said...

You used to call me on the cell phone.

Krumhorn said...

Further to my previous exegesis, Drake has 321k followers on his official fansite Instagram account and close to 100k followers on his Twitter account (@wordonrd), both of which have posts of this video. That would get him in the vicinity of $4,000 for that stunt. However, he has another Instagram account called @champagnepapi with 38.6 million followers on which he has not posted this video. However, he has other influencer posts there such as for Nike, Canada Dry, and a whiskey. They get close to 2 million views, so a post on that site should be getting him close to $15,000. And there are a similar number of views on the Raptors Instagram account.

This isn’t about memes. This is entirely about commerce.

- Krumhorn

Bill Peschel said...

Beautiful analysis, Krumhorn.

Ann Althouse said...

Sorry to have just enjoyed the cuteness. It's commerce. Must hate.

Wince said...

Ann Althouse said...
Sorry to have just enjoyed the cuteness. It's commerce. Must hate.

"Hate the Drake!"

Fabi said...

Pamplemousse used to be my favorite restaurant in Las Vegas. Too distracted to check it out the last time I was there -- not sure it's still around.

Doug said...

During an argument with a liberal last week, I gave the last two shits I had. I have none to give at present.