In 2018, a 26-second video titled “THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST, BRO!” was uploaded to YouTube. It didn’t take long for it to go viral.
In the video, one man is screaming at another man about whether Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz was a witch or a princess. Lines like “her sister was a witch!” and “she wore a crown and she came down in a bubble, Doug” have since become the stuff of internet legend and it’s hard to imagine anyone who has spent time online in the six years since hasn’t come across the video at some point.
While it’s common to come across the video at some point each year (especially right now with the theatrical release of Wicked), it’s uncommon to hear from the people involved. In fact, the man strongly arguing (incorrectly) that Glinda the Good Witch is a princess, has only ever done one media interview, appearing on Tosh.0 three years ago.
That man, Matt Passero, recently spoke with Jamie Loftus on her Sixteenth Minute of Fame podcast and shared some details about what was actually happening around that argument and what’s happened since.
Passero, who lives in Oshawa, Ontario, says the iconic argument came after a day of “day drinking” and that “the other guy in the video is my cousin.”
“I can only imagine what the video itself would have turned into if the recording would started at the beginning of the argument,” he said. “It would have been a 12-minute video.”
Unfortunately, Passero admitted that while the video went instantly viral when it was posted, his cousin wanted it taken down.
“The problem with the internet is when it’s on the internet, if you remove that video from whatever page you posted, it’s somebody already has it, right? Somebody has the video. So it ended up turning into what it is today,” he said.
Passero also added that he has never been able to make money off of the viral sensation because his cousin “wouldn’t sign off on any monetization of the video.”
He finally admitted that the two no longer talk, though the video isn’t the only reason why.
“There’s a little bit more to it,” he said. “Family drama. Everyone has it.”
It’s a bummer that Passero has never been able to capitalize on a viral video that has been seen by millions of people. Especially when it’s likely to continue to do so in the years to come with another Wicked movie coming.
