Entertainment- 'House of the Dragon' star Olivia Cooke said she was not a fan of being turned into a viral meme.
- In 2022, a clip of Cooke and her costar, Emma D'Arcy, went viral after they joked about their favorite drink.
"House of the Dragon" star Olivia Cooke said she "hated" the viral Negroni Sbagliato meme because she felt it reduced her work to "a fucking TikTok."
In 2022, a TikTok video where Cooke and her costar Emma D'Arcy jokingly praised D'Arcy's favorite cocktail, "Negroni sbagliato with prosecco in it," went viral instantly after fans became obsessed with the stars' British accents and chemistry.
@streamonmax I'll take one of each. #houseofthedragon
♬ a negroni sbagliato w prosecco l hbo max - Max
The short clip was initially posted on HBO's TikTok account to promote their show, "House of the Dragon," amassing 35 million views. It reached new heights as it became a meme on other social media platforms, and fans began ordering D'Arcy's Negroni cocktail in bars and making their own versions at home.
In a cover interview with Entertainment Weekly published on Tuesday, Cooke said she wasn't a fan of the meme.
"I did hate it for a very long time. I was in the pub. A woman opened the door for me and she said with a thick Spanish accent, 'Stunnin'!'" Cooke said, referencing her comment in the viral clip that became a catchphrase.
"I was just like, 'Oh my God. Over a decade's worth of work reduced to a single word in my lexicon," Cooke added. "We were just trying to make each other laugh. There's no rhyme or reason to it."
Despite the meme's popularity, Cooke said she refuses to start her own TikTok account.
"It's just sad how you work for eight months and it fucking gets reduced to a fucking TikTok, and that makes me sad," she said.
D'Arcy seemed less upset about the viral meme when asked about it in interviews.
They told Entertainment Weekly in 2022: "I don't have anything illuminating to say on it because it's very hard to know how to react when you become a meme. Someone should write an essay on that, actually. I would definitely read it."
They also told The New York Times in 2022 that they felt "so embarrassed" that the clip turned into a viral meme.
"Because in those interviews, when we've been at it for six hours, I'm honestly only trying to make Olivia laugh," they added.