One of the most iconic meme figures is back on Twitter! Arató András, more popularly known as “Hide the Pain Harold,” tweeted again this month after three and a half years of inactivity on the social media site.
Back on Twitter
His first tweet back is a photo of himself with the caption, “Hi folks! How’s your Monday going so far?” One Twitter user spoke for all of us and replied, “Hiding the pain, Harold.”
Life before the memes
Before he became a stock model (and a meme), Arató András worked as an electrical engineer and a DJ for a local radio station in Budapest, Hungary. When he first discovered that he became a meme, he said, “It was horrifying because there [were] some really rude or disgusting jokes with me,” he said in a BuzzFeed video. “It took several years ’till I could accept the situation. But it has brought me several new opportunities,” he added.
He later on embraced the “Hide the Pain Harold” character when he realized that it made many people happy. “More and more people stopped me on the street asking for a sour face. I do this always willingly because I see the joy in the eyes of these people. And it’s so good to make other people happy,” he said.
He’s also glad that he’s able to communicate with and inspire his fans on social media. “I [get] lots of messages each day on my Facebook and Instagram channels from people asking for help in their everyday life. I try to show to my fans that they should be happy even during the difficult times in their lives. And I guess memes can help in this period to overcome the everyday annoyances.”
Watch him tell the story of how he accidentally became a meme below:
