--- title: Blinking White Guy Explains Viral GIF Meme for Good Cause description: The man behind the viral GIF meme of a blinking white guy is explaining the moment while asking for help for a good cause. canonical: https://time.com/5683979/blinking-white-guy-meme-man-explains/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-09-23T15:08:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:00:23.241Z og:title: Man Behind Blinking White Guy Meme Comes Forward for a Cause og:description: The man behind the meme comes forward for a good cause og:url: https://time.com/5683979/blinking-white-guy-meme-man-explains/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf07f11ed6c444516/698a0355096a94798a6a704f/blinking-guy-explains-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: A woman is using a mobile phone og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Man Behind Blinking White Guy Meme Comes Forward for a Cause twitter:description: The man behind the meme comes forward for a good cause twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf07f11ed6c444516/698a0355096a94798a6a704f/blinking-guy-explains-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Man Behind the Blinking Guy Meme Has Something to Say > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=769b7256-8327-4993-8ae9-85549ee533f6&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 23, 2019 3:08 PM UTC  A close up of the hands of a young woman using a mobile phone A close up of the hands of a young woman using a mobile phone Karl Tapales—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 23, 2019 3:08 PM UTC If you’ve spent any time on the Internet in recent years, chances are you’ve seen Drew Scanlon’s face. His visage, a blonde, blue-eyed white guy blinking incredulously, has become [the go-to GIF meme](https://time.com/5595032/best-memes-2019/) for anyone who’s looking to show surprise or disbelief. Now, Scanlon is using his Internet fame to hopefully champion a good cause. Scanlon took to Twitter to ask his followers and those who have found joy using his image on the Internet to ask them to donate to the National MS Society as a part of a biking fundraiser that he’s participating in. Scanlon, who noted that he’s riding for two of his close friends and their families who suffer from MS, or [Multiple Sclerosis](https://time.com/5676636/jk-rowling-donation-multiple-sclerosis-research/), a disease of the central nervous system that interrupts communication between the brain and the body, hoped that his status as a meme would be able to help others. “If a fraction of those who have seen my goofy face donated to MS research,” he wrote on his [fundraising page](https://secure.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?fr%5Fid=30204&pg=personal&px=10524028). “I have a feeling we could kick this thing in no time!” So far, it appears that Scanlon’s approach is working. His team has raised over $30k so far. See his Twitter petition below. > [](https://twitter.com/drewscanlon/status/1174704419247542272) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5683979/blinking-white-guy-meme-man-explains/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5683979/blinking-white-guy-meme-man-explains/"},"headline":"The Man Behind the Blinking Guy Meme Has Something to Say","datePublished":"2019-09-23T15:08:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:00:23.241Z","description":"The man behind the meme comes forward for a good cause","url":"https://time.com/5683979/blinking-white-guy-meme-man-explains/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf07f11ed6c444516/698a0355096a94798a6a704f/blinking-guy-explains-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf07f11ed6c444516/698a0355096a94798a6a704f/blinking-guy-explains-meme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A woman is using a mobile phone","caption":"A woman is using a mobile phone","creditText":"Karl Tapales—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5683979/blinking-white-guy-meme-man-explains/","name":"The Man Behind the Blinking Guy Meme Has Something to Say"}}]}] ```