It was the meme seen around the world.
KTLA 5’s Courtney Friel made a preschooler cry on his first day of school eight years ago. The video has since been viewed millions of times, turned into memes in different languages and recently it even caught the attention of Netflix.
Andrew Macias, now 13, was just a preschooler at City Terrace Elementary School in East Los Angeles when he became internet famous.
In 2015 on his first day of school, when Friel asked him, “Are you going to miss your mom?” young Andrew initially said no and laughed, but then he paused, put his hands to his face and began, adorably, to cry.
Ever since those viral tears, Friel and Andrew have kept in touch. Even after the seventh grader and his family left L.A. for Nebraska, he says he may never live down that classic KTLA moment.
“Everyone says, ‘Are you the kid that came out on the TV?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah,’” Andrew recently told Friel.
To his credit, the 13-year-old says he’s no longer terrified about the first day of school but that his friends still ask him if he’s going to miss his mom when school is about to start.
Eight years and tens of millions of views later, the video is still garnering attention, most recently from the promo team for the new “Spy Kids: Armageddon” movie, who thought Friel and Andrew could help them out by recreating the viral encounter even down to what they were wearing all those years ago.
“I think we’re going to be connected for life now,” Friel told Andrew when they reunited for the promo in Nebraska. “Maybe I’ll have to talk to you again on your first day of college.”
“I look forward to that!” Andrew responded.
“Spy Kids” starts streaming on Netflix Sept. 22.