What is the “Da Vinki” meme? Voros Twins go viral on Twitter & TikTok

A pair of Hungarian-Canadian twins, Chris and Patrick Voros, have gone viral across Twitter and the internet for a TikTok video in which they incorrectly pronounce Leonardo da Vinci’s name.

The world wide web is often the wild west of culture, where no one knows what will take hold of the collective consciousness and explode into a viral phenomenon. Perhaps few videos can exemplify this randomness as poignantly as the now-infamous “Da Vinki” (or “Da Vinky,” depending on who you ask) video.

On August 17, the Voros twins uploaded a video to TikTok in which they attempt to answer a Instagram Trivia question: “Who painted the ‘Mona Lisa’?” The two do not seem to know that the answer is Da Vinci and, when the game reveals the answer to them, they respond in a high-pitched, surprised unison: “Da Vinki?”

A month later, Twitter has done its thing and the Voros twins have reached the mainstream. By this point, the video has been viewed million of times, and spurred thousands of memes on Twitter and spin-offs using its sound on TikTok. 

The pair of 27-year-old identical brothers are no strangers to entertainment, as they have been pursuing pro wrestling careers as an exuberant tag team. Following a tryout for the WWE last year, the two have hoped to capitalize on their inability to travel and continue honing their craft with other wrestlers by staying home in Vancouver and trying to build a larger social media following through TikToks and vlogs.

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While they were already pushing toward 100,000 followers, this video has easily propelled them past the 200,000 mark. And, as the cherry on top, or, more appropriately, a tuft of blond hair on top, the 15-second clip even made it onto The Late Late Show with James Corden.

In wrestling, kayfabe is the art of maintaining that all staged performances are genuine. In order to ensure the sanctity of their theater, professional wrestlers do all they can to protect the reality they’ve produced and prevent fans from being disillusioned by the breaking of kayfabe. As such, the Voros twins have tried not to explicitly reveal whether or not the video is fake.

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If you want to respect kayfabe and continue living in uncertainty, stop reading here and go enjoy some of the “Da Vinki” memes on Twitter. 

But if you absolutely must know, no, the video is not real. As the brothers explained to BuzzFeed’s Tanya Chen, “we’re smart people and we obviously know who da Vinci is,” and added “it’s a silly video.”

But now you’re in on the secret, don’t ruin it for others. You’ve read the script, but the sanctity of kayfabe must be upheld for those who are blissfully unaware.