Wilkerson is currently followed by 108,000 Twitter users and has been retweeted by a host of major companies and celebrities<\/b>
\nWhat started as a comedic request for a year\u2019s worth of free chicken nuggets to fullfil a teenage (and secretly adult) pipe dream, has resulted in a tweet that broke a world record for being shared more times than the group selfie taken by Ellen Degeneres at the 2014 Oscars.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 16-year-old Carter Wilkerson\u2019s April 5 tweet asking Wendy\u2019s how many retweets he would need to receive a year\u2019s worth of free nuggets has been retweeted 3,478,858 times and counting, while Degeneres\u2019 tweet had 3,432,940 retweets.
HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com\/4SrfHmEMo3
\u2014 Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6,2017
While still a far cry from the initially promised 18 million tweets, Wendy\u2019s has declared the count \u201cgood for the nuggets\u201d and has agreed not only to hand Wilkerson his reward, but to also make a US$100,000 donation to Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption in Wilkerson\u2019s name.
. @carterjwm is now the most retweeted tweet of all-time. That\u2019s good for the nuggets, and $100k to @DTFA. Consider it done. #nuggsforcarter pic.twitter.com\/k6uhsJiP4E
\u2014 Wendy’s (@Wendys) May 9,2017
In his April interview with the Gazette-Journal, Wilkerson said that he had initially agreed to Wendy\u2019s challenge as a joke. \u201cI thought \u2018Consider it done\u2019 would be funny among my friend group, \u201d he said. \u201cThen I put the screenshot up and it started gaining momentum.\u201d
Amazingly enough, the tweet caught the attention of many, gaining one million retweets within two days.
1 Million?!?! Officially SHOOK https: \/\/t.co\/XZ1AafXo2p
\u2014 Wendy’s (@Wendys) April 7,2017
By April 10, the count had doubled, reaching 2.4 million retweets .
According to BBC, the tweet was not only retweeted and replied to by other users but by companies and celebrities alike.
If you get the 18 million RTs, we’ll give you a free flight to take you to any @Wendys in the world in a city we serve. Good luck! https: \/\/t.co\/igxnPg1JUF
\u2014 United (@united) April 8,2017
It’s good to have dreams https: \/\/t.co\/gY4WfBX45i
\u2014 Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) April 8,2017
Microsoft, Amazon, Google and other major companies all joined in on the fun, further heating up the spotlight on Wilkerson. Wilkerson is currently followed by 108,000 Twitter users.
The broken record thanks to the retweeting frenzy was acknowledged in a tweet by Guinness World Records.
Congratulations to @carterjwm who just broke @TheEllenShow ’s record for most retweeted tweet on @Twitter #NuggsForCarter pic.twitter.com\/gwKyq8zmfP
\u2014 GuinnessWorldRecords (@GWR) May 9,2017
Twitter users\u2019 reactions to the new record has been a mix of astonishment and amusement, but mostly positive. One user compared the popularity of the tweet to last year\u2019s presidential campaign, commenting, \u201c#nuggsforcarter has been more successful a campaign than @HilaryClinton\u2019s run for president.\u201d
#nuggsforcarter has been a more successful campaign than @HillaryClinton ’s run for president.
\u2014 \u3164 (@inceptiiion) May 4,2017
The most retweeted tweet ever is a man wanting retweets to get a life supply of chicken nuggets.
This is life.<\/p>\n