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Who Is Ricardo Milos, And Why Is He Such A Staple Of Internet Culture? The Elusive Shirtless Man Explained
Ricardo Milos is a staple on the internet, any avid users of Tiktok in 2018 would've been very familiar with the classic bait-and-switch memes of the time. Milos has existed on the internet for over a decade, appearing and reappearing in various meme formats, with his most popular being his dance to "DotA" by Basshunter.
Known primarily for his suggestive dance video, he has also gone out and made various public comments about his internet fame, often negative, and usually threatening to sue anyone who uses his viral video without his explicit permission. Regardless, Milos is still a vital piece of internet culture, so what's with all the memes made about this Brazillian adult model? And why is he so infamous? Here's everything you need to know.
Who Is Ricardo Milos?
Ricardo Milos is a Brazillian adult model, known primarily for his famous dance video, which has been used extensively with various songs. His dance video, commonly referred to as 'Danced Like A Butterfly' was uploaded to YouTube with the song "DotA" by Basshunter.
Over the years there have been many iterations of his popular dance. In mid-to-late 2011, it inspired a series of MAD/animated videos on Nico Nico Douga (NND), establishing the character in the Gachimuchi / wrestling series. In mid-to-late 2018, Milos regained popularity as a bait-and-switch meme on TikTok and was promptly used in various meme formats for the next few years.
While the original video has been removed, there have been many reuploads of his popular dance on the internet. Still, the most popular one was uploaded by user Hoàng Long HD on Youtube, titled 'Ricardo Milos – basshunter dota'. (seen below)
What Is The Song Used In All The Ricardo Milos Memes?
The first iteration of the Ricardo Milos dancing meme was called Danced Like a Butterfly, which reproduced Milos's moves with a hand-drawn animation, and featured the song "Butterfly (Upswing Mix)" by Smile.dk. (example featured below)
In 2018, as TikTok grew in popularity, there was a resurgence in the Ricardo Milos meme, particularly using the previously mentioned video of Milos dancing to "DotA" by Basshunter. This song was often featured in multitudes of bait-and-switch Ricardo Milos videos, particularly as dancing TikTok girls became more popular. YouTuber Goat Boi published a video of Milos dancing to DotA on October 16th, 2018, receiving over 28 million views as of today (seen below).
Another iteration of the meme featured Ricardo dancing to "U Got That" by Halogen.
How Is Ricardo Milos Used In Memes?
As it stands, Ricardo Milos may be one of the most prominent public figures to ever exist on the internet. He has been featured in many different memes over the years, from obscure animations on Japanese media hub sites to bait-and-switch TikTok videos. In his prime, Milos was a meme icon, used in various memes and edits where he was featured either as a main character.
On March 3rd, 2018, Brazillian Bodybuilder Nilton Felix took it upon himself to cosplay as the infamous character and started the Twitch channel ricardomilosdolol, where he commonly went shirtless and wore a red bandana as he played League Of Legends. Although, Milos' fame didn't come without consequences. on April 9th, 2019, Milos provided the first-ever update since 2015, saying that there would be legal ramifications for anyone who used his video in any unauthorized way.
The last recorded iteration of the meme is called 'Ricardo Juice', which is a"viral TikTok video":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/viral-videos of user @leah_schmidyy123, where she consumes two bottles, one called "Ricardo Juice" and another called "Holy Water," and proceeds to dance like Milos while wearing a nun costume (featured below).
For the full history of Ricardo Milos, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
