Food

Someone Filmed A Rat Carrying Pizza Down Some Stairs And Now Everyone’s Going Crazy For #PizzaRat

We are all Pizza Rat.

by Hannah Hawkins  22 September 2015

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Just a few hours ago, a humble street rodent from New York City became more recognisable than Bill Shorten or the entire cast of Home & Away. What makes this rat so worthy of the world’s attention is its relatable struggle of trying to carry a slice of pizza twice the size of itself down a flight of subway stairs, probably to take home to its family of eight in whatever city garbage bin they live in.

The video of Pizza Rat’s journey down those literal and figurative steps with its food-based symbol of strength and courage has so far racked up 131,000 views and counting since it was uploaded seven hours ago, catapulting Pizza Rat into a life of fame it may not be entirely ready for.

Pizza Rat is now the new mascot of NYC — nay, the entire working-middle class population. It is the flagship of modern cultural discourse. Pizza Rat is bigger than Jesus.

Many people have recognised Pizza Rat’s powerful ability to speak to the ordinary worker, and pointed to its resulting popularity, which is so far greater than any American politician running for president in 2016.

BuzzFeed spoke to Pizza Rat’s videographer, NYC native and comedian Matt Little, who knows all too well the plight of the NYC subway rat.

“It’s all a metaphor for living in New York,” Little said. “You have too far to go and too much to carry. But life gives you as much as you can handle.”

“He pulled it down a couple of steps before I even started filming,” he said. “This was a real journey.”

Pizza Rat has since been picked up by The New Yorker, who gave Pizza Rat — or ‘Paul’ — a platform to share its unique story of finding an entire intact slice of pizza in an otherwise barren staircase. “No human in the history of New York has ever thrown away a fully intact, unblemished plain slice,” Paul said.

But how do we remember and honour Pizza Rat, and ensure it doesn’t become one of yesterday’s forgotten internet memes? Some have suggested Pizza Rat Halloween costumes, or Pizza Rat mugs and stationery. But these are small ideas, people! We need a Pizza Rat theme park, record label, movie franchise; we need a god damn Pizza Rat planet. It is the only way to make sure Pizza Rat’s struggle is heard and felt by future generations to come.

Pizza Rat’s lesson is our lesson. We are all Pizza Rat.