In 2010, then-culture-journalist Matt Patches wrote a benign tweet: “If Top Gun 2 happens, I will eat a shoe.” In hindsight, he ought to have thought of that dumb issues mentioned on the web will hang-out you ceaselessly. The tweet obtained traction, and associates, friends, followers, and Paramount’s publicists spent the previous decade and alter changing this sprint of social-media snark into a binding settlement.
For a whereas, Patches’ tummy seemed to be pardoned. Development delays, the tragic passing of director Tony Scott, and the rise of superhero movies, together with Cruise’s fluctuating public notion, advised Top Gun 2 could be indefinitely grounded. When manufacturing lastly started, Paramount slotted the movie for a summer season 2019 launch, solely to bump the premiere to 2020, permitting for added taking pictures. Then got here the pandemic.
Twelve years after this all started, towards all odds, Top Gun: Maverick is taking part in in theaters around the globe. And Patches is consuming a shoe on YouTube.
Patches himself went by way of a journey throughout this decade and alter. He labored throughout the media trade at shops like Hollywood.com, Esquire, and Thrillist, earlier than arriving on the biggest leisure publication on the planet: Polygon. Today, he serves as our deputy leisure editor, stopping different writers and editors from agreeing to eat clothes in trade for tentpole releases. Patches additionally obtained married and had two kids, which is why he can’t simply eat any regular shoe.
In the phrases of his spouse: “No. Fuck off. You are not eating a shoe. You can’t die right now.” As somebody who depends on Patches on a day by day foundation, I’ve to agree. And but Patches discovered a method to make and eat a usable shoe nonetheless. Bless him.
Most people gained’t have the ability to feast on Tom Cruise’s newest cinematic demise want till this weekend, so I like to recommend Patches’ shoe video as an appetizer, one thing to essentially whet your urge for food.
Patches is at present on parental go away, however I contacted him for remark:
“I remain skeptical that even if Top Gun 2 does well that Top Gun 3 will happen — doesn’t feel possible. But I won’t be eating anything if it does. I hope the video is a reminder that we can all be wrong on the internet and admit it. Also, there’s still room to be dumb online.”
