The Timothée Chalamet Lookalike Contest held on October 27 2024 at Washington Square Park may be my favourite viral moment of this year — complete with about 20 rat boy lookalikes, police arrests and an appearance by the real Timmy himself.
At the centre of this chaos was Matt Mannix, a 24-year-old Manhattan resident who found himself in handcuffs.
Matt’s arrest quickly became one of the most viral scenes from the contest, with videos of the arrest popping up all over TikTok. “It’s absolutely wild,” he told Teen Vogue.
“I did not in any world expect for any of this to happen.”
The event was organised by YouTube personality Anthony Po and was meant to be a silly goofy gathering. The winner of the competition received an illustrious $50 for his likeness and major bragging rights for looking adjacent to the white boy of the month. A 21-year-old from Staten Island serving Wonka Timmy won and said he’d be spending his winnings on candy. As he should.
However, the competition quickly spiralled out of control when hundreds arrived at the park ready to see which floppy haired boy would take the crown. The New York Police Department responded to what they described as an “unscheduled demonstration”.
The New York Times reported that four people were arrested, including Matt, who received four summonses for various charges: two charges of failure to comply with directions from park staff, police officers, or park signs, disorderly conduct, and trespassing.
“I was just kind of hanging there,” Matt explained about his experience at the event. “I didn’t even know if there was an official enrollment process or what.”
Chaos ensued when he was approached by a police officer who pushed him forward without warning. “I kept asking him, ‘Am I being detained? Am I being detained?’” he recalled. “And the entire time, he does not answer”.
As fate would have it, Matt was being carted off just as the actual Timmy made his way through the crowd. “I knew he was there, but I didn’t realise the timing of it and how close he was when he was walking by,” Matt said.
“That’s actually hilarious. That’s really surreal.” Bless him!
Matt was taken to the precinct where he was placed in a cell for an hour and a half and handed his summons.
“They took me straight to the precinct. They threw me into a cell. Yeah, they were really vigorous with how they wanted to search me and everything. And they just were clearly very upset at me.”
Matt shared that after everything went down the organiser of the event Anthony Po reached out to check on his fellow lookalike. Anthony was fined $500 by the police for holding the contest without a permit.
Matt is now left to navigate upcoming court appearances, but is taking the whole situation like an absolutely legend TBH. “It’s so absurd,” he mused about his newfound notoriety.
He’s even getting some clout from the chaos. “I just saw some person working with HBO asking to book for me for casting,” he shared.
Personally, I would LOVE a show where a bunch of Timmys fight to the metaphorical death for a meet and greet with the real Timothee, so get on it HBO!
Lead Image: Daily Mail/Matt Mannix/ TikTok
