From Space to the Super Bowl, 10 of the Wildest Selfies of All Time
All it took for these people to go viral was a cell phone camera pointed their way.
By Lindsay Friedman •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
While some of these famous selfies may make us smile, drool with envy or imagine floating in space, others may just make you question humanity as a whole.
Either way, this list features selfies you’re unlikely to forget.
Additional reporting by Nina Zipkin.
Ben InnesA man and a hijacker
When imminent death is calling, why not stop to take a selfie with your would-be murderer? That's exactly what 26-year-old Ben Innes did with the alleged EgyptAir plane hijacker late March. In his defense, it did later come out that the move may have been intended to aid police in later identifying the suspect.
Kim K and a full-frontal view
There are things that make you ask "why"?
Following Kim K’s “radical” decision to post a full-frontal selfie, a myriad of questions and reactions arose. (Editor's note: We decided not to publish the photo here.) Was it feminism or exploitation? Why wasn’t it taken down when Chelsea Handler couldn’t even get Instagram to keep her photo of one boob?
Essentially it can all be collectively summed up with: Really, Kim K, why?
Gas leak selfies
The New York Post was spot on with its description of these folks: Village Idiots.
Others deemed it so horrible they just couldn’t look away, labeling the selfies a group of people took in the aftermath of a gas explosion as “disaster porn.”
Taking place in the East Village last spring, the unexpected blast killed two people.
Ellen and the Oscars
When imagining the most popular selfie in terms of number of tweets and shares, it’s no surprise it would end up being a product of Ellen Degeneres.
As the Oscars’ host in 2014, she prompted a selfie with some of hollywood’s biggest stars from Jennifer Lawrence to Brad Pitt and Meryl Streep. It only took a matter of minutes for the quick snapshot to break social media records.
The picture leaves us wishing we could’ve been in that big ole’ Ellen sandwich of beautiful people. Any skilled photoshoppers around?
The ultimate selfie
An astronaut + spacewalk + camera = a recipe for the coolest selfie of all time.
The photo, taken Dec. 24, 2013, features NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins as he participates in the second of two spacewalks.
If only we could be that cool.
Monkey selfie
A monkey stole some guy’s camera and accidentally took a pretty adorable and happy looking selfie.
The results? As expected, it went viral, and then became the subject of a lawsuit.
Smart-guy sandwich selfie
These guys didn’t exactly need to be Insta-famous. They already have pretty impressive resumes.
But that didn’t stop science guy Bill Nye, President Barack Obama and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson from striking a pose.
How many IQ points do you think are captured in this one picture alone?
Pool | Getty ImagesPosing with the pope
You could probably count on one hand the number of popes who’ve taken the time to stop and take a selfie.
But Pope Francis has become pretty notorious for doing the unexpected.
Anything to get the word of God to the people, right?
Eye Ubiquitous | Getty ImagesSelfie of destruction
It’s not every day you can take a selfie with a 16th century statue. Then again, it’s not every day someone destroys a 126-year-old depiction of a Portuguese king, either.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened when a young man tried to climb up and take a selfie with the Dom Sebastiao statue. As a result, it toppled over and broke into pieces.
The man tried to run away after, but the police caught him and will eventually have to go to court.Hanging with Justin Timberlake at the Halftime Show
Justin Timberlake is the best guy ever
A post shared by Ryan Mckenna (@ryan.mckennaa) on Feb 4, 2018 at 6:56pm PST
Though 13-year-old Patriot’s fan Ryan McKenna’s team lost, his trip to Minnesota to see Super Bowl LII proved to be an unforgettable one, thanks to an instantly-memed selfie with Justin Timberlake midway through the pop star’s halftime show performance. "I just thought to myself, 'I'll never get this opportunity again in my whole life," McKenna told Billboard. "I just went for it.” The Massachusetts seventh grader currently has more than 17,000 followers on Instagram.
