When movie theater employee Jason Grosboll went to work in Corpus Christi, Texas, on a seemingly ordinary day in December of last year, he could not have predicted how much his life would change — all thanks to a viral video.
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Grosboll's out-of-this-world popcorn-buttering skills were filmed and posted to TikTok, earning him the title of "The Popcorn Guy." TikTok user @oanderle, who discovered the employee when going to the theater to watch "Avatar: The Way of Water," posted the original video. It shows how Grosboll butters the popcorn at the theater, which includes some pretty impressive maneuvers to spread the condiment perfectly throughout the entire container.
The video, below, has since racked up 16.5 million views, more than 1.2 million likes and over 19,000 comments. It even earned the attention of Jimmy Kimmel, who spoke with Grosboll on his show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and offered him a very special gig.
Grosboll appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in February, where Kimmel, who's hosting the 95th Academy Awards, spoke to him about becoming a viral sensation. He said he began what Kimmel called his "popcorn magic" after learning from a friend. During the interview, he showed just how does it, loading one bucket, and then spinning another on his thumb, then seamlessly switching it to his finger as he talked to Kimmel.
"I love my job more than anything in the world right now," Grosboll said.
Kimmel then invited him to the Academy Awards to make popcorn for the stars attending the award show.
Grosboll accepted the invitation, saying serving popcorn to Tom Cruise would be "amazing" — as long as he can get the weekend off from work, of course.
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Grosboll now has his own TikTok account, where he goes by @thepopcornguy210 and shares videos of his skills. He has used the platform to thank all of his new fans.
"I want to say thank you to everybody who gave me nice comments, supported me through all this and who helped me out," he said in one video. "I really appreciate everyone that did so much. I really appreciate the fact that everyone likes what I do. Thank you guys for everything. I truly love the job and I'm grateful for it."
We hope he has a wonderful time at the Academy Awards ceremony, which takes place on March 12. For a chance at spotting him, tune in to ABC starting at 8 p.m. ET.
This story was originally published by Kaitlin Gates on simplemost.com.
