The 'Shy Kid' Who Posted the Viral Wendy's Nugget Tweet Is Now a 'Legend' at His High School

Since 16-year-old Carter Wilkerson took to Twitter to strike a deal for free chicken nuggets, he's gained newfound fame

Photo: Lester Cohen/Getty

Since 16-year-old Carter Wilkerson took to Twitter to strike a deal with Wendy’s for free chicken nuggets, he’s gained newfound fame—both on the Internet and in real life.

Last Wednesday, the Reno, Nevada high school student asked the fast food chain on their famously feisty Twitter account how many retweets he would need to get free chicken nuggets for a year. “18 million,” the brand responded.

Though this seems like a far-fetched goal—Ellen DeGeneres currently holds the record with 3.2 million for her Oscars selfie—Wilkerson went for it anyway, pleading with his followers to help him out. The tweet now has 2.4 million retweets and is likely on track to beat DeGeneres’ record.

This viral fame is not something that Wilkerson expected. “I sent out the tweet as a joke, but then they responded with the outrageous number,” he said in an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal. “I thought [it] would be funny among my friend group. Then I put the screen shot up and it started gaining momentum.”

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“Carter is kind of a shy kid,” his father J Wilkerson added. “So I think the attention is overwhelming him.”

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Indeed, there is plenty of attention—the hashtag “#nuggsforcarter” is taking off, classmates are posting pictures with him on Twitter, and he even gained the attention of actor Aaron Paul. One student reportedly shouted “The man, the myth, the legend” at him during his interview with the news outlet.

Despite being “one of those people who isn’t usually looking for attention,” Wilkerson admitted it’s both “pretty exciting” and “pretty cool.”

Wendy’s has not explicitly confirmed or denied if they will live up to their end of the bargain, but they did tweet that it would be “pretty awesome” if he reached his goal.