The hilarious Charlie Bit My Finger home video featuring a toothy baby and his startled big brother is getting yanked from YouTube after the boys’ parents auctioned it off for a hefty £535,000.
The clip, posted so the boys’ godparents could see it in America, is a moment of internet history. It’s one of the most popular videos ever and has been watched 883 million times on YouTube. (It was still posted on Monday night.)
In it, big brother Harry Davies-Carr, 3, sticks his finger into year-old Charlie’s mouth as the two smile. When Charlie chomps down, Harry begs him to stop. “Chawley! That weally hurt!” he cries. Charlie giggles.
The clip was sold at auction over the weekend as a non-fungible token (NFT) – a unique, verifiable digital object – to an unidentified buyer (3fmusic) who now has sole control of the popular vid. Bidding started at £700, and there were 11 bidders.
“Bid to own the soon-to-be-deleted YouTube phenomenon, ‘Charlie Bit My Finger,’ leaving you as the sole owner of this lovable piece of internet history,” the family pitched on an auction website it created to sell the treasure.
The buyer will also “have the opportunity to create their own parody of the video featuring the original stars, Harry and Charlie,” the family noted. The boys are now 17 and 14.
The money will be used for Harry, Charlie and their two younger brothers, dad Howard Davies-Carr told Time magazine. The family used income from YouTube views to help pay for the boys’ education.
The family was initially stumped by the runaway popularity of the film.
Matthew Liu, a product manager at YouTube when the clip was first posted, called it “literally the definition of a viral video” and recalled the company’s fascination with it. The video “really captivated the entire world’s imagination,” Liu told Time.
As for the money the video just earned, “this could make the difference between [the brothers] having cheaper student loans, nicer accommodation, not having to get a bar job,” said their dad.
NFT sales have exploded. More than $2 billion was spent on NFTs in the first quarter of 2021, a 2,100% surge over the previous quarter, according to NonFungible.com, which tracks transactions.
The Disaster Girl Meme – a picture of a young girl smiling with a fire in the background – was recently sold as an NFT for more than £316,000.