The year 2022 definitely did not disappoint in terms of how many events went viral that had us completely transfixed. Here are the top 10 most viral moments of 2022.
- Elon Musk’s Take-Over of Twitter
Elon Musk began criticizing Twitter in March 2022, accusing them of not adhering to the principles of freedom of speech, even carrying out a poll of his own via his Twitter account asking Twitter users whether they thought Twitter promoted free speech. Musk then offered to buy Twitter for USD 43 billion on April 14th 2022 and on April 20th, a filing with the United States Security and Exchange Commission reveals Twitter’s board publicly and unanimously accepted Musk’s buyout offer.
After this, Musk threatens to pull out of the deal because Twitter was not complying with his request for data on spam accounts. This causes Twitter to formally file a lawsuit against Musk on July 12th 2022. Musk eventually completes the buyout process with Twitter on October 27th 2022 and the first thing he does is fire Twitter’s CEO, it’s General Counsel among other members of the Twitter board of executives.
In his tenure so far, Musk has fired a large chunk of Twitter’s staff and has made it possible to pay for the blue verification tick on Twitter among other things. Even though the hype has died down, the discussion of Musk’s handling of Twitter and his decision making has been a hot topic of discussion from people of all walks of life.
- Will Smith Slaps Chris Rock at the Oscars
At the 94th Academy awards, popular comedian Chris Rock was in the midst of a monologue whilst presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature when he made a ‘G.I Jane’ joke referring to Jada Smith’s shaved head, which she had been shaving due to alopecia areata, also known as spot baldness, which is a condition in which hair is lost from some or all areas of the body.
This angered the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air which caused him to walk up to Rock and slap him on the side of the face after which he walked back to his seat. After he directed a few profanities towards Rock, Will Smith calmed down and said nothing until he accepted his award for Best Actor, during which he apologized to everyone except Rock. Later he apologized to Rock on social media and announced that he would not participate in any of the Oscar Academy’s affairs for 10 years, effective April 8th 2022.
The Internet was flooded with nothing but people talking about ‘Slapgate’ as they referred to it and the world had a laugh at the expense of both men with hilarious memes that went viral on social media.
- Argentina’s 2022 World Cup Victory
In an absolutely amazing final against France, Argentina won the FIFA World Cup 2022 on 18th December 2022 at the Lusali Stadium in Qatar. It was Argentina’s moment as much as it was Lionel Messi’s, the now undisputed greatest of all time in football. Messi and Argentina have faced disappointment after disappointment ever since the 2010 World Cup but finally won the coveted trophy 12 years later. To this day, Argentina and it’s football team are celebrating their World Cup victory.
- Queen Elizabeth II Death
The longest reigning British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8th 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Reigning for 70 years and 214 days, she was the longest reigning female monarch in history as well as second only to King Charles XIV of France in terms of years reigned. Her funeral was the first state funeral to be held since former Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s in 1965. She was succeeded by her son Prince Charles, now King Charles III. People throughout the world mourned her passing.
- Johnny Depp Vs Amber Heard
The defamation case between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp that started with a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post, created some of the biggest moments on the Internet this year.
Heard filed for divorce in 2016 and accused Depp of physical abuse. In 2020, phone recordings showed Heard admitting to hitting Depp, along with testimonies from the trial where they accuse each other of abuse, people online were quick to take sides. The trial was highly controversial with both sides claiming that they were the victim. In the end, the jury ruled that both Depp be awarded 15 million dollars damages while Heard be awarded 2 million in compensatory damages.
