The Mayan Rizzler Memes, Explained

The Rizzler is one of the internet celebrities of our era. The TikTok star, officially known as Christian Joseph, has millions of followers across his social media channels and is somewhat of a meme machine. And the latest of these trends taking off online? Well, that’d be the Mayan Rizzler:

This picture has taken social media by storm, but, more than that, it says something interesting about how the internet elevates and evolves some of its favorite characters.

Who Is The Rizzler And What Are The Mayan Rizzler Memes?

The Rizzler exploded into fame when a video of him dressed up as Black Panther went viral. It currently has 20.7 million views and over 2.4 million likes on TikTok alone.

This wasn’t his first viral post, but the one that caught a lot of people’s attention. Following this video, the Rizzler connected with the Befumo clan, the father and son duo known as the Costco Guys.

While some believe the Rizzler is related to them, he’s actually just a friend, despite the constant collaborations between the group, such as releasing a song together:

The Rizzler in particular has become a fan favorite, both online and in the real world, resulting in many public appearances and excitement:

This fame has led to his involvement in an array of posts and creative online endeavours, the latest of which are the aforementioned Mayan Rizzler memes.

The original tweet was shared above, but this idea has been run with and morphed since that moment. This post, for example, plays with another popular meme format:

While others have made the Mayan Rizzler, and the Rizzler in general, a much more mystical figure:

Or other posters have tried to find different historical versions of the Rizzler:

While these posts are all gently amusing, there’s something interesting going on beneath the surface.

What Do The Mayan Rizzler Memes Mean?

Having watched his ascent from afar, there’s something intriguing happening with the Mayan Rizzler memes. They’re a continuation of the way the internet engages with the Rizzler himself, part of this process where he’s transitioning from an actual person into something more resembling a fictional character.

As an example, let’s look at some of the posts that show this repositioning of the Rizzler.

While this post is undoubtedly tongue-in-cheek, it serves as an example of how elements of the online world engage with the Rizzler. He isn’t simply a child, instead he’s turned into a mystical figure, someone who, as the tweet says, “champions the indomitability of the human spirit.”

Here’s another example of this elevation of the Rizzler:

It uses some of that same mystical vocabulary, such as “lucid and conscious,” morphing him into something more resembling a mythical figure from a fable than that of a regular child.

And this is where the Mayan Rizzler memes come in.

This trend continues his online elevation. Instead of being a normal human boy, the Mayan Rizzler memes place the Rizzler as almost an spiritual, ever-lasting figure.

What’s this about? What can be the rationale behind it? Well, one clear example is humor. Elevating someone who reviews food and makes promotional appearances into someone that transcends time is a bit of cognitive dissonance that’s undoubtedly amusing.

Beyond that though, the internet and humanity sometimes enjoys putting huge amounts of love onto a broadly innocent figure. Consider, for example, this famous video of a child getting cheered at a Detroit Red Wings ice hockey game:

The Mayan Rizzler memes are part of that same desire, to lift someone up in a way that spreads communal joy.

That, I think, is part of the appeal of the Rizzler. Here’s an innocent child who has rocketed to fame, and, because of that, a corner of the internet has collectively decided to worship him.

For some, this will be tongue-in-cheek, and for others it will be real, but the general outcome is the same: a spread of surreal positivity over a figure that many won’t understand.

In a way, it’s a similar emotion to supporting a sports team. At some point, fans will decide they like a team, and then will be dedicated to that franchise eternally.

The same thing is happening to the Rizzler. People have declared they like him, and they use formats like the Mayan Rizzler to expand on that trend and elevate him to almost mystical levels. It’s become like an online club. Lore is being built around him. A community has formed that’s borderline impenetrable to outsiders, but gives joy to those inside the bubble.

In a way, the Rizzler is similar to the original Chuck Norris memes. In them, a character the internet liked was raised to superhuman levels. This is a uniquely modern part of online fandom, a niche that’s accessed by millions.

And, unlike other aspects of social media, this is a trend based in positivity, one that displays a swell of enthusiasm that makes the online world a nicer place to be. Long may the Mayan Rizzler reign.