If X Has a Million Fans, I'm One of Them (2024)

About

If X Has a Million Fans, I'm One of Them is a copypasta and phrasal template in which a diehard fan of a famous person declares that they will remain their fan to their very last breath even if the entire world turns against that person. Spread as a copypasta about football player Cristiano Ronaldo on Facebook since 2013, the copypasta later gained virality in Twitch chat spam, and later with a version featuring YouTuber Onision that was used in recaptions.

Origin

On July 18th, 2013, Facebook^[1] page Real Madrid: Trolling Clubs Since 1902 made a text post about football player Cristiano Ronaldo originally submitted by Facebook page Countdown to Kickoff.^[2] The post received over 540 reactions and 17 shares in nine years (shown below).

If Cristiano has million fans, then I'm one of them.
If Cristiano has one fan, then I'm THAT ONE.
If Cristiano has no fans, that means I'm dead.

On the same day, the post was also shared by Facebook pages Real Madrid Fanatics^[3] and Real Madrid Fans,^[4] with their posts receiving over 280 reactions and 284 reactions, respectively, in nine years.

Spread

In the following years, the copypasta and its versions remained a prominent comment among Cristiano Ronaldo fans. On July 11th, 2016, an unknown Facebook user commented a version of the copypasta under the photograph of Cristiano Ronaldo kissing the Euro 2016 cup shared by the football player, with the comment reportedly^[5] receiving over 7,000 likes in roughly six years. On July 12th, 2016, Redditor^[6] helpmecosmia shared the copypasta in the /r/copypasta subreddit where it received 23 upvotes in six months (shown below, left). On August 4th, 2016, Redditor^[7] MEMORIES_OF_HARAMBE posted a Lionel Messi version of the copypasta (shown below, right).

If Ronaldo has million number of fans i am one of them . if Ronaldo has ten fans i am one of them. if Ronaldo have only one fan and that is me . if Ronaldo has no fans, that means i am no more on the earth . if world against the Ronaldo, i am against the world. i love #Ronaldo till my last breath.. .. Die Hard fan of Ronaldo . Hit Like If you Think Ronaldo Best player & Smart In the world

By early 2018, the copypasta format received further spread through spam in Twitch chats. For example, in March 2018, a version of the copypasta about Hearthstone streamer Kripparian was archived on the TwitchQuotes^[8] website (shown below, left). On June 21st, 2019, professional League of Legends player Doublelift tweeted^[9] the copypasta about fellow player Jensen, with the tweet gaining over 1,100 retweets and 10,800 likes in three years (shown below, right), with more esports players and organizations tweeting versions of the copypasta in the following years.

Prior to October 13th, 2019, following the controversy surrounding allegations against YouTuber Onision, an unknown user posted a (likely ironic) image macro based on the copypasta. On October 13th, 2019, Redditor^[10] ProfEmory reposted the image to the /r/Cringetopia subreddit, where it gained over 19,900 upvotes in six months (shown below).

Prior to December 11th, 2019, the first recaption meme based on the image, a meme about 100 Gecs, was shared by an unknown user (shown below, left). On December 11th, Twitter^[11] user @rylahmallette tweeted the image. Starting in October 2021, the Onision image macro saw notable virality as source material for recaptions online. For example, on October 28th, 2021, iFunny^[12] user ReeeIntoTheAbyss posted a meme about Taco Bell based on it, which received over 13,100 smiles in six months (shown below, right).

The recaption trend maintained moderate virality online in late 2021 and early 2022, primarily on Twitter.

Franz Kafka Misattribution

A version of the quote began to circulate on Tumblr and X around 2022, which attributed it to writer Franz Kafka in the book Letters to Milena, a famously passionate correspondence with a woman that he fell in love with in the early 1920s. The misattribution quoted Kafka as writing:

If a million loved you, I am one of them, and if one loved you, it was me, and if no one loved you then know that I am dead.

The earliest findable version attributing the copypasta quote to Franz Kafka comes from Instagram and Tumblr blog ethereal-muses, which posted the quote on August 21st, 2021.^[13]

However, in no place in current English editions of Letters to Milena does this language show up, despite several literary-themed content creators quoting it.