Nicolas “Nico” Cuadra is looking forward to his freshman year at the University of Texas at San Antonio now that he’s graduated high school with a bang heard 'round the internet...and also in Hollywood.
Every day of of second semester during his senior year at Ronald Reagan High School, Cuadra entered the classroom with a bright smile and his signature baritone greeting: “Good Morning, y’all!”
Most teenagers might say if it didn’t happen on the internet, then it probably didn’t happen, which is why Cuadra’s close friend, Gabe Monterrubio, was early to class with phone in hand ready to catch the morning greeting each day.
Then she did it one better, tweeting a compilation video of Cuadra’s bit that went viral overnight. Cuadra woke up to over 60,000 new followers and more than 33 million views on his video. Even Hollywood celebrities such as Robert Kardashian and Joseph-Gordon Levitt retweeted it.
“I am crying!” Kardashian said.
Levitt shared the post with a gentlemanly reply, saying, “And a fine morning to you too, Sir.”
Cuadra said he was shocked by all the responses.
“I was like, ‘There’s no way people will care that much, it’s just me saying, ‘Good morning.’ But they did.”
He said Monterrubio knew all along the video would blow up online, but they agreed that the main goal of the greeting was to simply encourage people to be more positive, not necessarily to become famous.
“People have DM’d (direct message'd) me while they’re at a really hard point in their life, and seeing this video really puts a smile on their face,” he said. “It’s such a weird era, especially on Twitter. It’s really nice to spread out this much positivity.”
Now, the guys are embarking on the next chapter of their journey as they tap into the YouTube market and sell “Good Morning, y’all” merchandise. In the meantime, they're also encouraging others to post and share more positive content online instead of perpetuating negativity.