adminSAM Meyiwa, father of murdered South African goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa has become an internet sensation with his wave during the funeral of his son at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Over the past week, people have been mimicking his emotive pose and sharing the images on social networking sites.
The hashtag #NotSenzosDad on Twitter had different people mimicking the greeting pose that Meyiwa’s father Samuel adopted, hanging out of the passenger window of a car with his arms outstretched at his son’s funeral, in what some have lamented as “undignified behaviour” for a grieving father.
Senzo’s trademark celebration, when his team Orlando Pirates would score, was running around in his goal area with his arms extended. His father seemed to mimic his son when he was thanking the thousands who had gathered at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
Perhaps it was his way of dealing with the pain of tragically losing his son or it was attention-seeking behaviour, but images of him in action went viral online, resulting in numerous memes and the hashtag #notsenzosdad.
The trend has steadily gathered momentum over the past week, despite many Twitter users slamming its irreverence for the man who recently lost his son. The picture-driven craze had people hanging out of all sorts of objects with arms outstretched, in what has been dubbed the “Senzo Senior” wave. From cars packed with up to six people flailing their arms out of windows and the boot, to a train driver hanging out the side of a motor coach – the more ridiculous the pose, the more popular the post.
Users took the trend to another level by spreading their arms while sitting in bathtubs, trolleys, washing machines, peeking out from under garage doors, and waving from under office desks. One daring tweeter even hung out of a skyscraper window – and another posed out of the cockpit window of a parked aeroplane.
@StemoiDaDeeper posted a snap of a man driving a donkey cart, saying: “If you don’t have a car make a plan and join the pose #notsenzosdad”.
One favourite was a Gautrain operator doing the “Senzo Senior” wave out of the motor coach of the train.
Google offices in Europe featured in one snap, while another showcased a young man jumping into a rooftop pool with arms outstretched, with the skyline of Dubai behind him.
Not to be outdone are Zimbabweans who have also joined in on the craze as they are sharing their own memes on social media platforms. Star FM DJs KVG and LYCAT posted pictures of themselves in studio doing the wave after a radio show.
According to photographer Alon Skuy, from Times Live, who took the snap of Senzo’s father leaning out the car at the slain footballer’s funeral service in Durban, he was surprised how it has became a humorous meme on Twitter and Instagram.
Others took it a step further and photoshopped pictures of jailed Para-Olympian Oscar Pistorious waving his arms like Meyiwa Snr from inside a prison cell. – Cape Argus/Showbiz Reporter
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