The most memorable Toronto viral videos of all time are a tough lot to choose. What once might have been determined by a simple YouTube view count is now an exercise in weighing the impact of thousands of clips across infinite social media accounts.
But, without further ado, here are my picks for the top shot-in-Toronto viral videos ever.
Raccoon steals donut from the ceiling
Listen, if it were up to me, this entire post would be raccoon videos—there are that many great ones floating around. Yet, this 2015 clip of one clever trash panda dropping down from the ceiling James Bond-style to steal some food takes the cake. Or donut, as it were.
Why are you closed?
A gentleman who wanted to go shopping in Toronto's Eaton Centre was irate to learn that the mall had closed amidst the G20 riots of 2010. More than 1,000 protesters were unlawfully detained during what turned out to be the largest mass arrest in Canadian history, but this guy was the real victim. Just listen to him!
Toronto Raptor eats live cheerleader
If you haven't seen the actual video, you've likely seen the GIF. It's a classic. The NBA's best mascot shocked and delighted fans with his silly "eat the dancer" stunt in 2011 and it's been canon in the annals of Toronto sports history ever since.
Toddler steals Prince Harry's popcorn
According to YouTube itself, the most-viewed video to come out of Toronto in quite some time is footage from the Invictus Games. It featured handsome Prince Harry inadvertently sharing his popcorn with a little girl in the stands, and I'm not afraid to admit that it's cute as all heck (for something without animals.)
Rob Ford admits to smoking crack
It was the admission heard round the world. Footage of late former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford telling reporters that he had, indeed, smoked crack cocaine made TV newscasts from here to Hong Kong in 2013. It was one of many popular RoFo videos to make the rounds both before, during and after his time as Toronto's most famous-ever politician.
The No Frills parking lot brawl
Things got wild outside of a No Frills store in Scarborough during summer 2017 when an argument over a parking space escalated into a full-on fist fight. Like raccoon videos, Toronto has a long history of producing excellent fight videos. Like, prolifically. I'm capping it at one for this particular list, though, and this is maybe the best.
Naked guy jumps into shark tank at Ripley's Aquarium
A Friday Night Jazz event at Toronto's aquarium was interrupted back in October when a man decided to go skinny dipping with live sharks. Videos were shot from multiple angles and the man was later arrested for assaulting someone earlier at Medieval Times. You can't make this stuff up.
Toronto Zoo Giant Panda vs. Snowman
Zookeepers made a snowman for giant panda Da Mao to play with at the Toronto Zoo. He didn't know what to do with it and the resulting video went viral, encouraging the zoo to continue pumping out adorable animal videos on the regular. It was perhaps the best thing to come out of 2016.
Chef "taunts" vegan protesters
Antler restaurant co-owner Michael Hunter made international headlines in 2018 with a clapback aimed at animal rights activists who'd been harassing his customers for weeks. It involved cutting up a deer leg in the restaurant's window and then eating it in front of some horrified vegans.
Vegan protesters were shocked after a #Toronto chef responded to their protest by carving up an animal right in front of them https://t.co/CY0zU0a1By pic.twitter.com/Mj04bnzxVp
— blogTO (@blogTO) March 27, 2018
Chair girl
Is that video of 19-year-old Marcella Zoia whipping patio furniture off someone's balcony over the Gardiner Expressway funny? Good? Cute? Anything? Not at all—but it is, by and far, one of the most-watched videos ever to hit the local news cycle. For this reason, chair girl makes the list. I know, you're mad. Stop emailing me.
Someone took a video of a chair being thrown off a #Toronto condo building pic.twitter.com/fylo70gLu0
— blogTO (@blogTO) February 11, 2019
by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO
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