On Sunday – Easter – morning YouTube released a video titled “YouTube’s ready to select a winner.” In it, employees from the video sharing site explain that, starting at midnight on March 31st, the site will go offline. YouTube staff will then have the unenviable task of selecting the best-ever YouTube video, with a winner announced when the site went back up—in 2023. “We are so close to the end,” Tom Liston, communications director at YouTube, explains in the video. “Tonight at midnight, YouTube.com will no longer be accepting entries.
After eight amazing years, it’s finally time to review everything that has been uploaded to our site and begin the process of selecting a winner.”
The video, reportedly made in collaboration with the Onion, features cameos from YouTube celebrities like Antoine Dodson, who rose to Internet fame for the viral “Bed Intruder” Auto-Tune video, Matt Harding of “Where the Hell is Matt? 2012,” and Charlie and his brother from “Charlie Bit My Finger.” Each of them share their dream of winning the title of best-ever YouTube video.
But wait a minute: what date is it? It’s all a big April Fool’s Day joke.
