The Untold Story of What Happened Later 'Back at It Again at Krispy Kreme,' the Best Vine of All Time

At that place are many expert Vines, merely few perfect ones. Cats, dogs, pranks, visual trickery, 6-second operas — there's no shortage of neat work on the video platform that created the Loop, a new type of video format. Vine was founded in Jan 2013, and its start year, like any growing platform, came in fits and starts. But I never actually understood the mesmerizing nature of the loop until I saw "Dorsum at It Again at Krispy Kreme," the all-time Vine of allfourth dimension.

Two years ago, on January 13, 2014, the Vine business relationship Fab Cheerleader posted a video captioned "He hit the sign😂," and it is incredible. In the outset shot, a man holds a Krispy Kreme hat upwards to the camera and says that famous line, "Back at information technology again at Krispy Kreme." In the second shot, he does a back handspring into a neon Krispy Kreme sign, knocking information technology from its housing. Roughly a quarter-2d afterward — before the sound of the sign beingness wrenched from the wall has even finished — the video begins over again. It is amasterpiece.

I beloved many things almost this Vine. Kickoff of all, the dial line is insane. "Back at information technology again at Krispy Kreme," we hear. What does information technology mean? I tin all but guarantee that nobody assumed the phrase meant "back handspring into a neon sign." I beloved how information technology ends before the sign hits the floor. Nosotros get just plenty to know that the handspring — impressive in and of itself — has caused some damage. But nosotros don't know the extent of the harm, nor how our stuntman reacted, or how the employees of Krispy Kreme reacted. Information technology'south a blank space that our imagination fills — fabricated all the more dramatic by the eternal, countless loop ofVine.

Then much of what made Back at It Once again at Krispy Kreme fantastic — besides the guy crashing into the sign — tin can exist attributed to the odd formal characteristics of Vine, chief among them the lack of context. Vines create an odd tension in the viewer: Each video is a mere six seconds, but it loops on endlessly. You develop an intimate knowledge of the six seconds you're given through the peephole of the Vine — simply are left totally in the dark about the context and resolution. Theories and speculation abound. The viral Vine economy, where Vines are copied and reuploaded with no credit or explantion, simply heightens the mystery. Vine purists, if such a thing exists, might insist that such mystique is essential to a Vine. But as much as I could adore the fragile artistry of the unresolved disaster in "Back at It Again at Krispy Kreme," I all the same needed to know: What the hell happened afterwards he kicked the sign downwardly? So, on its two-year anniversary, I set out to notice the origins of this incredible Vine — as well as learn itsaftermath.

Of course, as is often the case with Vines, information technology wasn't going to be easy. While "Fab Cheerleader" was the business relationship on which the Vine went viral, it didn't create this video — it'south just a page filled with freebooted (that is, ripped and reuploaded without credit) clips of cheerleading and tumbling. On a site called FunnyVineVideos.com, I was able to observe a better-quality version of the original Vine — one that had been posted a week before Fab Cheerleader's. But, similar Fab Cheerleader, FunnyVineVideos didn't credit the original writer of the video.

I decided to take a different tactic. I chosen up the scene of the crime: Krispy Kreme. In the first shot, i tin clearly make out a edifice number for the Krispy Kreme location: 9301. A quick Google query volition direct y'all to a Krispy Kreme location in Matthews, North Carolina. (Credit where credit is due: This deduction is not my ain. I vaguely remember seeing someone having washed this on Tumblr months ago.)

I spoke on the phone with Heath, a manager at the Krispy Kreme location who about knew the incident I was describing. He was, notwithstanding, slightly surprised that I knew of the video. "Actually, that video was supposed to have been removed from the web," he told me, "so I'm surprised it's still out therecirculating."

I told him that the video had millions of loops, and that I wanted to follow up on information technology, see what the aftermath was. At this signal, Heath said that he could non tell me anything, and said he would have to direct me to Krispy Kreme'southward corporate office. I called the phone number, which presented me with a list of options that did not include "viral video response." I had no luck. I followed up with an e-mail to Krispy Kreme's media contacts, merely take non heardback.

I couldn't stop thinking about that video, though — the best Vine of all time. So I turned to Twitter,searching for posts that contained the words kicked and sign, as well every bit the URL string "vine.co" and restricted results to earlier the engagement of Fab Cheerleader'svine.

What I found were a number of tweets, all of which reference the same now-removed Vine. Many included the hashtag #tumblingislife, and a few referenced the user @TumblingIsLife1. The human being who runs that account, Aaron, is the hero of our story — the man who kicked the sign off the wall at Krispy Kreme. Aaron, who originally hails from the Bronx and now lives in Atlanta, told me that he took upwards tumbling at an early age. He was inspired by watching his cousin tumble, and besides past Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. He now teaches tumbling toothers.

I can try to tell the story of that infamous night any number of ways, but none of them can compare to how Aaron described the incident to me immediate. It is an amazing story. In his ain words:

Oh my God, permit me tell you about that night. So I take a costless coupon to go similar a dozen doughnuts, so I go, "All right, say no more." I get brand moves — nosotros're all in line, we're just talking. I was similar, "Yo, I'one thousand about to make a video, I'chiliad virtually to practise a flip." Then I give them my coupon, I'm similar, "Stand up in line, go the dozen doughnuts, I'm gonna get over here and brand this video," and all that.

So it was me and my 2 friends. I tell them to gear up at the table. I was like, "Oh, I gotta get my intro real quick." I did my little intro — "Dorsum at it again at Krispy Kreme" — and I was like, "Y'all ready?" Then we flipped the camera around.

I dorsum up. I told myself, I'1000 not gonna hitting anything. So I do my flip, only the second flip that I did — the dorsum handspring, the back one with easily going into the spin — I stretched it out too long. So when I went into the air and started spinning, my left leg striking the sign off the wall make clean, and it dropped backside the counter. And information technology was like [glass shattering audio effect].

It was packed. There was a practiced hundred, a hundred and some change, people inside. Everybody was talking. Every bit presently as that affair dropped, everybody didn't talk for a good 30 seconds. It was nil only silence. Every bit before long equally I landed — I didn't autumn afterwards that, you lot saw me, I landed on my feet. I looked up and I saw that it fell, I didn't look at nobody, I only kept walking, and I walked out the door. Everybody was like, "What the heck? Oh shoot, he but kicked downwardly the sign!" Everybody started going crazy.

Then I was just outside spooky. Three people from behind the desk that were making doughnuts or any ran outside and information technology was like, "Yo, that shit crazy, bro!" And he was like, "Bro, I think somebody in there'southward calling the cops," or whatever. So they called the cops on me, and I had to practise a piddling whipping and running. They didn't find me, so that was information technology for the dark.

In the aftermath, Aaron said that he did get a visit from constabulary enforcement. " The sheriff came to my house, and we talked almost it, but he was like, 'You lot don't have to pay for anything like that, but don't do anything similar that again.'"

And that was it. Afterwards, Aaron deleted the video from his account in lodge to avoid attention from law enforcement, but it still lives online. And thank God it does, considering it is the best Vine of all time. The phrase "Back at it again at Krispy Kreme" is still referenced on a daily basis. That famous judgement is now a mantra — every time you inject a little bit of extraordinary flair into the mundane, you, too, are dorsum at it once more … at Krispy Kreme.

Asked if he had any other thoughts to add together, Aaron stated, as a matter of fact, "Tumbling islife."

The Story of 'Dorsum at It Again at Krispy Kreme'