When Cork teen Emma Hurley posted a simple video to TikTok, she had no idea that it would end up amassing well over 10 million views.
The video, combined with the audio of a popular cartoon song, provides a quick and accurate summary of the history of the British empire. 16 year old Emma reveals just how many countries the Brits have invaded throughout history. And the list is quite extensive.
Centra deli-worker Emma, with the handle @eamonndevalera, posted the video to the increasingly popular video app, TikTok. Using a song from the cartoon Animaniacs that lists the countries of the world, Emma jumps between two categories: 'Countries Britain hasn't invaded' vs 'Countries Britain has invaded'. As it turns out, more countries fall into the second category.
replace the entire British curriculum with this TikTok pic.twitter.com/z9xgKwUm5B
— Róisín Lanigan (@rosielanners) June 29, 2020
The video gained serious traction when it was posted to Twitter by user Róisín Lanigan. Róisín posted the video with the caption 'replace the entire British curriculum with this TikTok.' The video has since accumulated over six million views on Twitter alone.
Emma got in touch with Róisín thanking her for tweeting the video and the "clout" she has received as a result. She introduced herself as a "16 year old culchie from West Cork." However, she also mentioned that Róisín was "legally liable for the big head I've gained from this." Compensation culture has gone mad!
Speaking to CorkBeo, Emma said her mother has been quizzing her about the potential financial gain of a viral video.
"She couldn't believe that I wouldn't be at least getting something for doing a video that's been this popular," she said. "She keeps asking me; "Well, are you going to make any money from it?"."
Congrats to Emma on the viral video. It just goes to show that TikTok can be informational and educational. I'll be getting all my historical knowledge from the app from now on.
