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Time of India

Great viral leap forward: How American viral sensation The Rizzler is connected to Chairman Mao

In an event that may one day be taught in political science classes titled 'Charisma Across Centuries: From Mao to Rizz,' Christian Joseph — known to the world as The Rizzler — attended the Thunderbolts screening in NYC. Dressed as Red Guardian (no, not metaphorically — literally, in cosplay), the TikTok sensation mugged for the camera alongside Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and that trademark expression that's been dubbed the rizz face — squinting eyes, a stroked chin, and lips pursed like he's trying to seduce the ghost of Lenin. Naturally, this led the internet to do what it does best: ignore the movie and construct a semi-satirical, fully viral sociopolitical lineage linking The Rizzler ... to Chairman Mao . 'The Rizzler is now only four degrees from Chairman Mao,' proclaimed user Chris Alsikkan, sparking an online pilgrimage through history, sitcoms, and conspiracy boards. It all started with a photo of The Rizzler next to Julia Louis-Dreyfus — yes, Elaine from Seinfeld , and also VP Selina Meyer in Veep , which is basically how America is run now. From there, things escalated faster than a Marxist revolution. Here's how it apparently goes: by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like AI guru Andrew Ng recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around in 2025 Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo Rizzler → Julia Louis-Dreyfus Julia Louis-Dreyfus → Robert F. Kennedy RFK → JFK JFK → Richard Nixon Nixon → Chairman Mao That's right. Mao Zedong, architect of the Cultural Revolution, is five awkward handshakes away from a 20-something TikToker known for impersonating bedroom smouldering with the grace of a confused meerkat. Of course, internet purists were quick to correct Alsikkan's 'four degrees' claim. 'Actually it's five degrees,' wrote one user who's clearly been waiting their whole life to be pedantic about historical adjacency on X. 'If you count Rizzler as zero, JLD is 1, RFK is 2, JFK is 3, Nixon is 4, and Mao is 5.' Another added: 'It's how many jumps , not how many people in between. 0 is yourself, then every connection is +1.' This, ladies and gentlemen, is what passes for digital historiography in 2025. But accuracy be damned — the beauty of the tweet lies not in factual precision, but in its sheer absurdity. In what world do we get a chain that starts with 'guy who made rizz face next to Florence Pugh' and ends with 'dictator responsible for the Great Leap Forward' ? The internet's world. That's where. It's also a reminder of how the six degrees of separation theory — once a sober sociological idea — has been transformed into a meme-fuelled sport. We're no longer asking "How close are you to Kevin Bacon?" but rather "Could The Rizzler overthrow feudal landlords in rural China if given access to a time machine and a ring light?" The tweet worked because it juxtaposed the profound and the profoundly ridiculous. On one hand, Chairman Mao: a man who reshaped the geopolitics of the 20th century. On the other: a TikToker whose biggest cultural contribution is looking like he just realised he left the stove on mid-flirt. But make no mistake — this is how history is made now. Not through revolution, but through virality. One rizz face at a time. As the internet laughed, debated, and diagrammed, one thing became clear: Mao may have said, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,' but in 2025, influence grows out of a 15-second clip and a very silly expression. In that sense, The Rizzler isn't just close to Chairman Mao. He is the Chairman of Rizz.