Billy Herrington

William Glen Harold Herrington (July 14, 1969 – March 2, 2018), was an American model, body builder and pornographic film actor. In the late 2000s, his appearances in various gay pornography movies led him to become a popular Internet meme on video-sharing websites such as Japan's Nico Nico Douga, where he was referred to by the sobriquet . Since then, at least 15,000 short mash-up parodies of his clips—known as "Gachimuchi Pants Wrestling" (Japanese: ガチムチパンツレスリング, Hepburn: Gachimuchi Pantsu Resuringu, lit. "Beefy Briefs Wrestling")—have been produced by users. In 2002, Herrington said the adult film industry helped him to understand his bisexuality.

Internet meme

Herrington gained fame in Japan as an Internet meme, after a clip from one of his movies, Workout: Muscle Fantasies 3, was posted on Nico Nico Douga, a Japanese video sharing website, on August 10, 2007. At least 15,000 mash-up parody videos of him have been made, many of which utilize deliberate mishearings (soramimi) of lines from his films, most notably from Workout: Muscle Fantasies 3 and Lords of the Lockerroom.

Herrington is affectionately called or among the Nico Nico Douga community. Most of his videos are deliberately mistagged with , , , or all three.

In February 2009, Herrington visited Japan to attend a live online event hosted by Nico Nico Douga and garage kit maker Good Smile Company. Herrington said that he was flattered and humbled by his fans' creativity. A limited-edition Herrington action figure was announced for a July 2009 release. Two other limited-edition Herrington action figures were announced for the Halloween and Christmas holiday. The Halloween figure was released in October 2009 and the Christmas one was released in December 2009. Both are Nico Nico Chyokuhan exclusives.

Death During the evening of March 1, 2018, Herrington was involved in a car accident on California State Route 111 in Rancho Mirage. He was found trapped in the wreckage and was brought to a Palm Springs hospital, where he died the next day. News broke of his death one day later. Fans responded with hundreds of tributes across video sharing sites and message boards. One tribute video uploaded on Nico Nico Douga accumulated over 80,000 views in less than one week. Services for Herrington were held at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California.

Legacy Herrington gained fame in Japan as an Internet meme and visited the country due to his popularity there. In July 2022, in Ukraine, a petition to the President of Ukraine from an Odesa resident, proposing to replace the monument to Russian Empress Catherine II with a statue of American pornographic actor Billy Herrington as part of the derussification in Ukraine, gathered over 25,000 signatures. Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the petition, asking the Odesa City Council to discuss the removal of the monument, in accordance with local self-government laws.