''Double Rainbow'' was a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

filmed by Paul "Bear" Vasquez (September 5, 1962 – May 9, 2020). The clip, filmed in his front yard just outside

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

, in the U.S. state of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, shows his ecstatic reaction to a

double rainbow Double Rainbow may refer to: * Double rainbow, a variation of the meteorological phenomenon * Double Rainbow (ice cream), a brand of premium ice cream, sorbets, and frozen desserts Media * ''Double Rainbow'' (album), Aya Matsuura's sixth album ...

. , Vasquez's video had accumulated more than 50 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Biography

Vasquez was a native of East Los Angeles, where he served as a Los Angeles County firefighter. After two years, he re-settled in Yosemite in 1985, eventually buying an plot. He was married with two children, before divorcing, becoming a truck driver, and participating in a single

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

bout. Vasquez lived in a mobile farm outside

Mariposa, California Mariposa (; Spanish for "Butterfly") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Mariposa County, California, United States. The population was 1,526 at the 2020 census. The community is named afte ...

, approximately from Yosemite, where he operated a farm and uploaded occasional videos of his life.

Death

In a May 3, 2020 Facebook post, Vasquez spoke of feeling feverish and having trouble breathing. However, he refrained from going to a hospital, as he looked forward to reincarnating and "enjoying the ride". On May9, Vasquez died in the emergency room of John C. Fremont Hospital in

. Vasquez was tested for COVID-19 but no results have yet been released.

History

The amateur video shows the view from Vazquez's property into the skies above the

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Hal ...

on January 8, 2010. After moving away from several trees that interfere with the scene, Vazquez enjoys an unobstructed view of a semicircular

. Vasquez's reaction captures his intense emotional excitement; he weeps with joy and moans ecstatically, uttering phrases such as "Double rainbow all the way across the sky," "What does this mean?" and "Too much!" Vasquez posted the video to

himself as user ''Hungrybear9562'' (now ''Yosemitebear62'') on January8, 2010. On July3, comedian and late-night talk show host

Jimmy Kimmel James Christian Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the host and executive producer of ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', a late-night talk show that premiered on ABC on January 26, 2003, ...

linked to the video in a post on

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, saying that he and a friend had declared it the "funniest video in the world." The video quickly gained over one million views. A July 16 feature on the video by

CNN.com CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

stated that the video had gained 4.8 million views. The video gained Vasquez a feature on the comedy show '' Tosh.0''. ABC News describes the video as "a three-and-a-half-minute emotional journey," with Vasquez confirming his sobriety during recording. On July 26, 2010, Bear was interviewed by Kimmel on '' Jimmy Kimmel Live!''. On the December16 episode, he was awarded Video of the Year and appeared in a video short created by the show for the event.

Aftermath

On July 5, 2010,

the Gregory Brothers The Gregory Brothers are an American musical quartet, specializing in comedy music and pitch correction through their YouTube channel Schmoyoho (). After the success of their songs 'Chrissy Wake Up' and ' It's Corn' in the summer of 2022, NPR r ...

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d the video under the name "Double Rainbow Song". Their video has since gotten over 39 million views and has become a viral video in itself, almost surpassing the original in number of views. The song was covered by Amanda Palmer, Jimmy Fallon (as

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fur ...

) and

The Axis of Awesome The Axis of Awesome was an Australian comedy music act with members Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo and Benny Davis, that performed from 2006 to 2018. The trio covered a wide variety of performance styles, and perform a combination of original ...

during a live recording of a charity show in the UK. In 2011, Vasquez appeared in a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

for

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, parodying the video. The video appears as the first scene of the 2013 movie ''

We're the Millers ''We're the Millers'' is a 2013 American crime comedy film directed by Rawson M. Thurber and starring Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Molly Quinn, and Ed Helms. The film's screenplay wa ...

''. Two years earlier, Bear had appeared in

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress and film producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Since her career ...

's ad for Smartwater. On May 9, 2016, Bear appeared on the Slooh.com live broadcast of the

Transit of Mercury frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Mercury across the Sun takes place when the planet Mercury passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet. During a transit, Mercury appears as a tiny black dot moving across the Sun as the planet obs ...

. This video was featured in 2016

's April Fool prank and it can be watched with Snoop Dogg in 360 "SnoopaVision".

References

External links

*The original video, titled {{YouTube, OQSNhk5ICTI, "Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10"
Professional MMA record for Paul Vasquez
from

Sherdog Sherdog is an American website devoted to the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). It also has many forums and discussion pages on the many topics of MMA like records, promotions, etc. The site is a member of the CraveOnline network and provides MM ...

2010 works 2010 YouTube videos Viral videos Internet memes introduced in 2010 2010 in California Rainbows in culture