To many students’ surprise, DePauw’s campus made social media across the country after a fraternity’s halloween party went viral.
On Saturday, Oct 30, Delta Tau Delta dressed up as minions and Gru from “Despicable Me” and recreated an iconic scene. In the scene, Gru, the leader of the minions, rallies them underneath the night sky in order to pitch his evil plan: to steal the moon. Delta Tau Delta’s Halloweekend rendition has since gained more than 12 million views on Tik Tok and 150,000 likes on Instagram.
Wallace Renie, a junior member of Delta Tau Delta, came up with the idea before fall break.
“We thought of storm troopers, squid game characters, etc. but those would have been too expensive for everyone. I ended up throwing minions into the ring because it would be cheap and easy to figure out. I then threw a poll in the groupchat, asking if everyone would like to dress as minions, and it was a hit. I think the house voted in favor of it 47-2. The idea just ran from there,” Renie said.
During fall break, everyone got their costumes. On Saturday, October 30th they put on their costumes for the first time.
Senior Jon Gilliam was surprised when the video blew up.
“We made the video just for our enjoyment initially. We thought it was a hilarious idea and would’ve been a missed opportunity if we didn’t get one since we were all dressed the same. The overall execution was spontaneous.”
When it came down to record, no one had a plan as to what everyone was going to say or do. There was no script, no practices, and all improvised.
Charlie Knoelke, junior, was asked to be “Gru” thanks to his height.
“Before the video, I didn’t even know what to say. As I was walking up the stairs before I said, ‘We’ll steal the moon!’ I was thinking in my head, ‘I just don’t know what to say.’ It all came out at once” Knoelke said.
Claire Jarrett, ‘21 recorded the skit, and soon afterwards Gilliam sent it into Old Row and Barstool.
No one anticipated the reaction to what started as just a funny idea.
“I was at a Colts game on Sunday when it got posted and my phone immediately started blowing up and died within minutes due to all the interactions it was getting. I was happy to see it doing so well, but I was even happier with the DM’s I was getting saying how it made so many people’s Halloween weekend,” said Gilliam.
The students that participated in the video have received recognition from fellow faculty, alumni, friends, and family members.
Renie, who was one of the minions said, “My dad was texting me updates on how many views it had like every 12 hours. It was really cool to watch it gain traction so quickly.”
Knoelke said, “Lots of parents have reached out. I met DePauw alumni, and they’re like “Oh, so and so showed me the video. It's really funny!”
Since the video was posted numerous accounts with a large following have reached out. To name a few Pubity, Illumination, DrunkPeopleDoingThings, LadBible, bbsdoingnothing, Doing Things and a licensing firm in the UK have asked to repost the video.
While nothing has been set in stone, there has been casual talk about a potential group costume next year. The only question is, will Delt be able to keep the fame going?