Anthony Scaramucci

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About

Anthony Scaramucci is an American political figure, financier, and the former White House Communications Director. He became notable online after being named White House Communications Director in July 2017, a decision which caused former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to resign.

History

Scaramucci was born on January 6th, 1964.^[1] He began his career as a financier for Goldman Sachs in 1989 and worked there through 1996. In 2005 he founded global investment firm SkyBridge Capital and worked there as a co-managing partner until 2017, when he sold the company to work in the Donald Trump administration. He has also appeared as the host of Wall Street Week and on Fox News as a contributor.

On July 21st, 2017, he was named White House Communications Director. Sean Spicer resigned as Press Secretary shortly after. The New York Times reported that Spicer resigned because he "vehemently disagreed" with the hire. On July 24th, Select All^[3] reported that Scaramucci was deleting old tweets discovered by Twitter users in which he strongly disagreed with the current Trump administration's policies towards issues including gun control and climate change, and a few in which he praised Hillary Clinton. Scaramucci tweeted^[4] that he was deleting the tweets and that he only served the President's agenda.

Bohemian Rhapsody Jokes

The day the Scaramucci hire was announced, a significant amount of Twitter users made similar jokes applying Scaramucci's name to the lyrics of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, specifically the lyric, "Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fandango?" The wide spread of the jokes was covered by Select All.^[2]

Mark Twain Misquote

On June 15th, 2012, Scaramucci tweeted^[5] the quote "Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like its heaven on earth," misattributing it to Mark Twain (shown below).

According to Quote Investigator,^[6] the quote comes from the song "Come From the Heart" by Susanna Clark and Richard Leigh, though it is often misattributed to Twain and former pitcher Satchel Paige. Shortly after the Scaramucci hire as White House Communications Director was announced, Twitter users began mocking the tweet by misattributing other famous quotes in the tweet's replies. Author and former child star Mara Wilson^[7] started the trend by attributing the chorus to Evanescence's "My Immortal" to Albert Einstein in a tweet that gained over 2,100 retweets and 21,000 likes (shown below, left). In another popular example, @OwsWills^[8] tweeted a famous stanza by poet Dylan Thomas and attributed it to Ke$ha (shown below, right). The tweet gained over 800 retweets and 11,000 likes. The spread of these jokes was covered by The Daily Dot.^[9]

Futurama "That Guy" Comparison

Another popular joke that appeared with the announcement of Scaramucci's hire was a comparison to the character "That Guy" from Futurama, a parody of soulless, corporate businessmen from the 80s made famous by Michael Douglas' performance as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987). On the 21st, Twitter user @chivalress^[10] pointed out the similarity.

Several other Twitter users saw the similarity, and began attributing "That Guy" quotes such as "Don't worry about blank, let me worry about blank" to the current political goings-on, particularly Russiagate. These jokes were covered by Buzzfeed,^[11] Washington Post,^[12] and Daily Dot.^[13]