Teen breaks tweet record in quest for nuggets
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WASHINGTON — An American teenager has broken the world record for the most retweets, in a crusade to win a year’s supply of his favorite food: chicken nuggets.
Beating TV stars Ellen DeGeneres and Kim Kardashian, and leaving former US president Barack Obama in the slow lane, Carter Wilkerson, 16, started his Twitter challenge on April 5 when he asked the Wendy’s fast food chain how many retweets he would need to receive a year’s supply of nuggets for free.
“18 million,” came back the reply from the fried chicken store’s Twitter account.
“Consider it done,” replied Wilkerson, despite having only 150 Twitter followers at the time.
He then turned to the internet: “Help me please. A man needs his nuggs.”
On Tuesday, his message had been retweeted more than 3.4 million times, beating the record that DeGeneres racked up at the 2014 Oscars, when she posted a selfie with a gaggle of film stars that included Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Brad Pitt.
Wilkerson also appeared on DeGeneres’ show last month. She gave him a year’s worth of Ellen-branded underwear and a TV, but threatened to take the gifts back if he passed her.
While still far short of the golden number of 18 million, Wendy’s not only granted him his wish of a yearlong free nugget supply, but also pledged a $100,000 donation to a children’s adoption foundation.
In addition to the nuggets and media attention, Wilkerson now has 105,000 Twitter followers.