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Daniel the Golden Retriever

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About • Origin • Spread • Various Examples • External References

About

Daniel the Golden Retriever is the winner of the "Sporting Group" category at th Westminster Dog Show that took place on February 10th and 11th, 2020. Daniel won the category, sporting group, and became the “crowd favorite [1].” Fox Sports [2] first posted the video of Daniel post winning his ribbon for sporting group. Daniel jumped onto his handler in a way Fox Sports reporter described “as arms hugging” his handler. In the video shared by Fox Sports, Daniel can be seen biting on his ribbon out of excitement (see below). @UPIPhotos tweeted a photograph of Daniel with his ribbon in his mouth [5].

Daniel According to USA Today Sports, “For the first time since 2006, a golden retriever won the best of the Sporting group at the 2020 Westminster Dog Show [3], giving a canine named Daniel a shot at Best in Show, a prize that the breed has never won.” Following his win in the sporting group, Daniel immediately grew a fan base on Twitter. The internet was hoping he would win best in show and make history. Twitter users showed their support by tweeting #TeamGolden and #DanielGoldenRetriever [6]

Verified Twitter user, @lolacoaster, tweeted from the show, “Crowd is now chanting DANIEL!!!” [7] (see below) @ashleigh_rioux responded to @lolacoaster by stating “If Daniel doesn’t win we riot.” [8] Daniel ended up losing to Siba, a standard poodle, for best in show. Twitter users were outraged and this created trending hashtags #DanielWasRobbed and #JusticeforDaniel.

During the Late Late show, host James Corden said “Here is the dog that Daniel lost to, a standard poodle and I’m sorry but this is bullshit. Siba looks like she would send a waiter over to my table during brunch to tell me and my friends to quiet down” [9] (see tweet with video below).

Daniel’s photo along with disappointed reaction gifs and memes surfaced platforms such as Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and Youtube. The primary platform where Daniel received the most buzz was by far on Twitter. According to NBC Washington [4], “Daniel's name trended on Twitter as fans shared photos of him carrying a prize-winning ribbon in his mouth” (see above). One example of using the Daniel the Golden Retriever as a meme was created by @SimmeringBlue. @SimmeringBlue tweeted “Someone told Daniel what happened to Jennifer Hudson’s career after she lost American Idol #WestminsterDogShow #DanielGoldenRetriever #Daniel.” In addition to this caption, @SimmeringBlue attached a Golden Retriever gif (see below). [10]

Origin

Daniel first became known publicly when he won the sporting group at Westminster Dog Show on February 11, 2020. The show was covered on live television in New York City. Fox Sports posted a shorter video clip showing Daniel's excitement about his win on February 11, 2020 on Youtube. Twitter users retweeted the video clip and this sparked the trending hashtags in support of Daniel to win best in show at Westminster (see tweet below). [11]

Spread

Daniel first made an appearance when viewers watched him win the sporting group at the Westminster Dog Show. The crowd loved him and twitter users tweeted in support of Daniel. Fox Sports posted Daniel's win on Twitter as well as Youtube and this increased Daniel's fan base dramatically. The video clip posted by Fox Sports, which has 2 million Twitter followers and 787K Youtube followers, went viral at 3.2K viewers and over 300 comments. Following this video clip, there were a number of trending hashtags that appeared on Twitter. The most popular hashtags included #WestminsterDogShow2020,
#WKCDog, and #Daniel, and #TeamGolden. Once Daniel supporters discovered that he did not win best in show, there was outrage that surfaced Twitter. Twitter users showed their disappointment and anger by using #DanielWasRobbed and #JusticeforDaniel. These hashtags ended up trending on the platform as well. James Corden was among Twitter users who expressed outrage in addition to many other users. @mericombs12 created a meme using the winner of best in show, Siba, the standard poodle (see below). This tweet was shared on February 11, 2020 at 11:05pm. It received 129 likes, 29 retweets, and 16 comments. [12]

Various Examples

One major contributor to the spread of Daniel the golden retriever was Twitter user @asadaniels_. @asadaniels_ tweeted "Imagine an old-fashioned societal system, 100+ years old, run by an elite ruling class that brazenly disregards the popular vote that more accurately represents the people’s champion. Of course this tweet is about the Westminster Dog Show." He followed this tweet with #danielwasrobbed. In addition to this tweet he created a meme from a screenshot of Daniel holding the ribbon in his teeth (see below). This meme was posted on February 12, 2020 at 12:56am. It received 243 likes, 40 retweets, and 4 comments. [13]

Another contributor to the memes that spread as a result of Daniel's loss at best in show was @lalzzzzforlife. @lalzzzzforlife tweeted a reaction gif of Tyra Banks that was captioned "I was rooting for you we were all rooting for you" (see below). This tweet was shared on February 11, 2020 at 11:17pm. It received 49 likes and 10 retweets. This is very successful for @lalzzzzforlife considering they have 21 followers. [14]

This tweet shared by @XTinaMcAwesome was the most successful of any of the above examples. A screenshot was posted of Daniel's handler with Daniel's paws hugging the handler along with the caption "HE WAS THE ONLY ONE IN THE ENTIRE SHOW TO HUG HIS HANDLER WHEN HE WON. C’MON NOW!" At the end of the caption was #BestInShow, #WKCDogShow #WestminsterDogShow, #WestminsterDogShow2020, and #danielwasrobbed (see tweet below). This tweet was posted on February 11, 2020 at 11:50pm. It received 1.4K likes, 255 retweets, and 58 comments. This is extremely successful for @XTinaMcAwesome considering they have 96 followers. [15]


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External References

[1] USA Today - Siba the standard poodle won Westminster Best in Show, but Daniel the golden retriever was the fan favorite

[2] Twitter - @FoxSports

[3] Westminster Kennel Club - Sporting Group

[4] NBC Washington - Daniel the Golden Retriever Wins the Internet, If Not Westminster's Best in Show

[5] Twitter - @UPIPhotos

[6] Twitter - @TerriMoran

[7] Twitter - @lolacoaster

[8] Twitter - @ashleighrioux

[9] Twitter - @latelateshow

[10] Twitter - @SimmeringBlue

[11] Twitter - @FoxSports

[12] Twitter - @mericombs12

[13] Twitter - @asadaniels_

[14] Twitter - @lalzzzzforlife

[15] Twitter - @XTinaMcAwesome

[16] Twitter - @GoodForAnother

[17] Twitter - @Hooberbloob

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