Ken Bone (Illinois)
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Kenneth Bone (born 1982) is an American citizen who became a
viral phenomenon Viral phenomena or viral sensation are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the te ...
after asking a question as an undecided voter at the October 9 presidential debate during the 2016 United States election. Bone subsequently received national media attention and inspired a large number of
Internet memes An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
.


2016 election

At the October 9 presidential debate during the
2016 United States elections The 2016 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, while Republicans retained control of Congre ...
, Ken Bone, a coal power plant operator from Belleville, Illinois, was one of several local undecided voters invited to participate in the debate between Democratic nominee
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
and
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
nominee
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
. Bone asked the question: Bone quickly became a viral sensation on social media, immediately gaining over 80,000 followers on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
after the debate. Multiple parody and fan pages were created under his name on various platforms. Bone's red sweater, use of a
disposable camera A disposable or single-use camera is a simple box camera meant to be used once. Most use fixed-focus lenses. Some are equipped with an integrated flash unit, and there are even waterproof versions for underwater photography. Internally, the cam ...
before and after the debate, and general demeanor was received positively by viewers of the event, and spawned numerous Internet memes. Bone maintained that he would remain an undecided voter after the debate. He ultimately voted for Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. After the debate, Bone made appearances on '' Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', '' @midnight'', and
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
'' College GameDay''. Bone was also parodied on ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...
'' and ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pro ...
''. Bone capitalized on his sudden fame by endorsing ridesharing company
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), packa ...
with a tweet, filming a commercial for
Izod The Izod Corporation (officially stylized as IZOD) is an American midrange clothing company that produces dressy-casual clothing, sportswear for men, and footwear and accessories. It is a division of Authentic Brands Group, and is currently m ...
, and partnering with merchandise company Represent to market T-shirts. An emoji with Bone's likeness was briefly available on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, and would appear whenever the hashtag #MyVote2016 was used. Bone also auctioned off the red sweater he wore during the debate, raising $10,000 for the charity Greater St. Louis Honor Flight. On October 13, 2016, Bone hosted a
Reddit AMA r/IAmA is a subreddit for question-and-answer interactive interviews termed "AMA" (short for "Ask Me Anything"). AMA interviewees have ranged from various celebrities to everyday people in several lines of work. Founded in May 2009, the subredd ...
under the username "StanGibson18". After the post went live, Bone received backlash for comments he previously made using his personal account regarding the
2014 celebrity nude photo leak On August 31, 2014, a collection of nearly five hundred private pictures of various celebrities, mostly women, with many containing nudity, were posted on the imageboard 4chan, and quickly disseminated by other users on websites and social netwo ...
and
killing of Trayvon Martin On the night of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States, George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American boy. Zimmerman, a 28-year-old man of mixed race, was the neighborhood watch coordinator for his ...
. As a result of the media attention, Bone was also swatted and received threats directed at him and his family.


Post-election

Bone continued to make public appearances related to United States politics after the 2016 election, appearing on ''
Real Time with Bill Maher ''Real Time with Bill Maher'' is an American television talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by comedian and political satirist Bill Maher. Much like his previous series ''Politically Incorrect'' on Comedy Central and later on ABC, ''Real ...
'' and at the 2017
Conservative Political Action Conference The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC; ) is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond. CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU) ...
. Since 2016, Bone expressed dissatisfaction towards the Trump administration, implying that he would likely vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and later endorse
Andrew Yang Andrew Yang (born January 13, 1975) is an American businessman, attorney, lobbyist, and politician. Yang was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries and the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary. He is the co-c ...
. Bone voted for
Libertarian Party Active parties by country Defunct parties by country Organizations associated with Libertarian parties See also * Liberal parties by country * List of libertarian organizations * Lists of political parties Lists of political part ...
nominee
Jo Jorgensen Jo Jorgensen (born May 1, 1957) is an American libertarian political activist and academic. Jorgensen was the Libertarian Party's nominee for president of the United States in the 2020 election, in which she finished third in the popular vot ...
in the 2020 election. He was the subject of an October 2020 ''
New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * '' The ...
'' documentary, in which he reflects on the 2016 election and the effect fame had on his life.


Personal life

Bone is married to Heather Bone, whom he met in
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
. They have a son named Logan.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bone, Ken 1982 births Living people Internet memes introduced in 2016 People associated with the 2016 United States presidential election 2016 in American politics Political Internet memes 21st-century American people