Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is responsible for a well-known meme on the internet thanks to an old photo of himself sporting a black turtleneck, a gold chain, a fanny pack and a head of hair that has long since deserted him.
On Monday, Johnson made a video of himself wishing fans a Merry Christmas resurrecting the famous look, all the way down to the fanny pack.
Here’s the video.
The caption for the former WWE star’s video nodded to the fanny pack as well: “Merry Christmas, from your keepin’ it [100] friend,” Johnson wrote, followed by the hashtag “TappinFannys.”
Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
Johnson opened the video by singing a variation of “Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire” with “90s Rock nipping at your nose.”
“I’m walking down the hall / looking cool as f***,” Johnson sang. “Just look at my amazing clothes.”
The Rock’s iconic look has a backstory. In one episode of Johnson’s project “Young Rock,” which documented his childhood and upbringing, he addressed his history as a football player for the Miami Hurricanes. On the show, Johnson said he thought the black turtleneck would be a great way to impress women, while the fanny pack would allow him to pack anything he needed.
In 2017, Johnson gave more backstory on Instagram.
“When I took this iconic absurdity of a picture in 1996 I was one year removed from sleeping on a used mattress I took from a garbage dumpster in the back of an hourly sex motel,” Johnson wrote at the time. “Couldn’t afford to buy a bed so we do what we gotta do to get by. You can imagine all the fun colorful bodily fluids I tried my best to clean off.”
Johnson added a photo of himself in the same pose, noting that 21 years later, he was about to host Saturday Night Live “for the fifth time.”
“If you’re going thru your own tough times ‘used mattress’ stage, do your best to have faith things’ll get better and always be willing to outwork your competition because you never know where life is gonna take you,” Johnson wrote. “And ALWAYS remember to place a soft tissue under your left elbow as to protect the fabric. … Oh and tuck the thumb in the fanny pack. Always tuck the thumb.”
The Jumanji and Fast & Furious star has a number of big projects on the horizon, and he appears to be keeping busy in the community as well—Johnson posted photos of himself meeting numerous kids as part of the #MakeAWish program the day before Christmas.
“A lot of negative noise out there in the world, but there’s also a lot of amazing positive things too,” Johnson wrote.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.