Spoiler: It was all planned.
Many Americans will gather around their television sets on Sunday and watch the Super Bowl while chomping on various snack foods, but did you ever wonder what happened to that person behind the infamous “Left Shark” meme from 2015?
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Ya know, the guy who sorta just did his own thing while Katy Perry sang, leaving everyone wondering why “Right Shark” was the only fish moving his fins in sync with the music?
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Well, in an interview with NPR on Wednesday, Bryan Gaw officially outed himself as the man behind “Left Shark,” sharing what went down during one of the most memorable* halftime performances in recent memory.
Though Gaw’s identity was deduced via social media at the time, he’s finally speaking on the record.
Gaw explained that there was “flexibility” with the choreography, so the moves he made were completely intentional. That’s right, it was all planned.
“So there’s a set choreography,” Gaw said. “There’s also what’s called free-style choreography, or, like, you get to move around or play your character as a dancer.”
“I’m in a 7-foot blue shark costume. There’s no cool in that. So what’s the other option? Well, I’m gonna play a different character.”
The character Gaw says he was aiming to channel was “an underdog,” the “every day person.”
He said he wanted to show people that they don’t have to be perfect in life.
And if you thought Gaw would be ashamed to claim his portion of pop culture history on his résumé, you’d be wrong. “People are like, ‘Whoa, that’s so cool,'” he said, when asked how people respond to seeing that entry on his work history.
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“Don’t take life so seriously,” Gaw said. “I was on the biggest stage in the world, acting crazy.”
“I got a lot of press and a lot of attention in the most positive ways, it’s great. Be you, do you.”
LINK: The 23 Most Important Moments In Left Shark History