Early on a Sunday afternoon in New York’s Washington Square Park, I pass hungover college students slapping on bacon and egg and cheese sandwiches and turn right past a brass band busking for tips. Then you realize that a miracle is happening. Internet trends are still in full swing.
At least seven people wearing blue chef aprons and white T-shirts lined up in front of the Washington Square Arch. Some have cigarettes stuck behind their ears, while others scratch away at weird tattoos they’ve hastily drawn with a Sharpie. It doesn’t take an expert to notice that they all look at least a little like The Bear and Shameless actor Jeremy Allen White (of Calvin Klein ad fame). The crowd gathered to watch was relatively small, apart from badge-wearing reporters, social media managers and photographers swarming the blacktop. Some of them are proud girlfriends, giving a nod to the outfits they designed. Two girls hold out placards that say “Yes, Chef” with “Daddy” written in what looks like red lipstick and stare at the assembled photographers. But the most memorable part of this whole scene is the couple who walk in, take a quick look, and then head out for the rest of their day as the crowd begins to disperse. “Damn,” one of them said. “Chicago was better.”
Jeremy Allen White Lookalike Contest in Washington Square Park by Rolling Stone’s Maria-Juliana Rojas
What they’re referring to is the growing trend of similar contests that have dominated both online and in-person spaces over the past month. The first event, a Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest on October 27, began as a paper ad posted on a lamppost in New York. After the photo was circulated on X (formerly Twitter) for weeks, a crowd poured into Washington Square Park that day, filling it with Chalamet lookalikes. The event was heavily documented on social media, with people debating whether the winner’s choice was correct. But once the real Chalamet arrived, the contest was cemented as a once-in-a-lifetime internet success story. Except for the fact that they still keep happening. Since that first meetup, we’ve seen Dev Patel’s pageant in San Francisco, Jack Schlossberg’s meetup in Central Park, Paul Mescal’s hangout in Dublin, Harry Styles’ party in London, and Zayn Malik’s party in Bushwick. contest, and of course two white people participated. Events in Chicago and New York. A quick Google search will reveal dozens more contests scheduled between now and the end of the year. These include the first contests for female celebrity lookalikes, such as the recently held Zendaya contest and the upcoming Rachel Sennott contest. This is a beauty pageant that no one expected, with thousands of spectators gathering to watch, cheer, and have pure fun watching people make fun of themselves charmingly in public. . So why are lookalike contests held? Or, better yet, why now?
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Anthony Poe is a 23-year-old YouTuber and stunt creator. Before coming up with the idea for the Chalamet contest, his biggest claim to fame was convincing hundreds of people to gather in Washington Square Park and watch him eat an entire bucket of cheese balls while wearing a mask. It was a viral stunt that convinced me to watch it. Simply put, he has experience with this kind of thing. Despite people online comparing him to someone like Oppenheimer, a creator who is horrified by what he has accomplished, Poe told Rolling Stone that Chalamet’s original contest He said he was pretty confident that people would turn out. But everything really sucked,” he told Rolling Stone. “So it was comforting to have something a little bit interesting and fun and wholesome and full of quirkiness. Everything we do in person is either expensive or too serious. You can also find community online. You can, but it’s very different. People just want to be together in person and do something stupid. And this is a very low barrier to entry way to do that.”
Poe’s contests continued to provide social commentary. Chalamet’s appearance was a shock. “I can’t think of a more dangerous place for Timothée Chalamet at 1 p.m. on a Sunday than (a park) with thousands of people mobbing him. But it’s great that he showed up.” ) There was some debate over which Chalamet clone should win. (My personal favorite is the lesbian who wore Chalamet’s costume with her approval.) Several police officers also showed up and arrested one of the lookalikes for disorderly conduct and failing to comply with directions from park officials. and fined Poe for organizing such a large-scale event. without proper permission.
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Contestants gather for the Timothée Chalamet Lookalike Contest on Sunday, October 27, 2024, at Washington Square Park in New York. AP Photo/Stephan Jeremiah
Frankly, it was enough to keep people entertained for days. And in the weeks since then, events have been held across the U.S. and even in Europe, with at least one interesting tidbit to grab people’s attention. A white pageant winner from Chicago won people’s hearts when he revealed that his day job is as a therapist. Although everyone agreed that no one in his contest resembled the real Malik, all of the brown individuals who entered were highly attractive and gained thousands of new followers. At the New York White contest, not even the organizer showed up, so a kind audience collected votes and cigarettes for the winner.
Zari Taylor, a faculty fellow and digital culture expert at New York University, told Rolling Stone that much of the interest in lookalike contests comes from a combination of in-person and online participation at events. . “There’s really not much third space left,” she says. “The idea of being able to bring hundreds of people to Washington Square Park for a common purpose is something that people are craving, and the initial promotion will be in-person and the post-event talks will be online. There’s a balance between being an in-person event and knowing that you can watch it online later.”
Oscar, the winner of the Harry Styles look-alike contest, cheers from fans of the former One Direction singer during a judging event held at Soho Square in London, England on November 9, 2024. After a Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest in New York went viral after the star stormed the event, a Paul Mezcal contest in Dublin, and Harry Styles today in London’s Soho Square. A similar thing happened at the event. Leon Neal/Getty Images
For Brooke Erin Duffy, a professor at Cornell University who specializes in the creator economy and digital culture, the resurgence of lookalike contests was not a surprise. She told Rolling Stone that people have historically loved comparing themselves to celebrities, citing past pageants. For example, in the early 2010s, Facebook held an online doppelganger contest, encouraging users to upload photos to find their lookalikes. There’s also the proliferation of lookalike apps, which over the past five years has morphed into TikTok’s filter for finding celebrity lookalikes.
“Familiarity begets visibility, so when Timothée Chalamet’s contest starts getting attention, it’s not surprising that other contests pop up,” Duffy says. “What’s interesting to me is that the contests I’ve seen so far have focused on men, which is important, especially given the history of surveillance and scrutiny of women, celebrities, and their physiques. I feel like this is subverting that cultural norm in a very interesting way.”
With lookalike contests in full swing, the next question seems to be not if, but when, this trend will finally die out. While the in-person aspect of contests remains generally positive, online, with each new contest added, the very nature of commenting on a person’s body, appearance, and attractiveness essentially means that someone will ultimately It becomes heavy bait for saying cruel things.
“Any trend that starts on the internet, no matter how healthy and pure its intentions may be at first, always has the potential to pick up steam,” Taylor says. “There’s some kind of gender difference in how people receive a man who they believe looks like Zayn Malik compared to a biracial woman who claims to look like Zendaya. For example, contestants I don’t think anyone would come up to you directly and say something misogynistic or sexist or racist. But in the comments section, it’s all fair game.”
Jeremy Allen White Lookalike Contest in Washington Square Park by Rolling Stone’s Maria-Juliana Rojas
For those watching the contest with interest, there seems to be some anxiety over what might happen, but so far the biggest joy seems to be coming from the participants themselves. Despite the small number of spectators at the white competition in New York, participants and their families were all smiles. Probably because they realize how stupid it is.
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Andrew Haddad, 28, was chosen as the winner of the contest and told Rolling Stone he was happy to finally win the award after years of being told he looked like the Shameless star. Ta. He only showed up after being “pushed out the door” by his “beautiful girlfriend”, but admits the short competition was silly and fun. When asked if he had any plans regarding the win, Haddad laughed.
“I think I’ll come back, and everyone who wanted me to come will say, ‘Good job,'” he says. “That’s it.”
