Cillian Murphy has revealed that he did not know about his popularity online, and reacted to be called the ‘Internet’s boyfriend’.
The actor, 47, has seen his popularity rise even higher this year with his role in Oppenheimer generating a great deal of awards buzz.
His newfound status has also endeared him to many social media users, who appear to unanimously titled him as their ‘boyfriend’.
When asked about his newfound status at the 35th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala on Thursday, Cillian appeared to be completely in the dark.
Speaking to ET, he admitted: ‘I don’t know about too many things internet-wise’, before adding: ‘Oh, it’s lovely. It’s very flattering. Very flattered.’
Many fans have taken to Twitter over the past few months to praise the Peaky Blinders star, with one saying: ‘cillian murphy is boyfriend material’.
Another added: ‘I want Oppenheimer to be good for my boyfriend Cillian Murphy’s sake’ while a third said: ‘cillian is so husband/boyfriend i cant believe he’s the same age as my mum’.
A fourth gushed: ‘cillian murphy is my husband my wife my boyfriend my girlfriend he’s my everything’.
While someone else wrote: ‘how do I tell my boyfriend that I’m in love with cillian murphy’ and a sixth echoed: ‘i showed mom who cillian murphy is today and i felt like i was introducing my boyfriend’.
A seventh wrote: ‘My media teacher started referring to Cillian Murphy as ‘your boyfriend’ as he should though honestly’.
While another penned: ‘where’s that one tiktok where the girl is fawning over photos of her “boyfriend” and it’s cillian murphy because that has been my life for the past couple of months’.
A ninth asked: ‘Oh hey now that Cillian Murphy’s the internet’s boyfriend, how about we all (re)watch Anthropoid?’
While another reflected: ‘never in my life did i think cillian murphy would become the internets boyfriend of the month but here we are and i’m enjoying it’.
Cillian is known to be very private and uninterested in Internet trends, not having any social media because he’s ‘too old for that’.
He has ironically gone viral several times for his cluelessness surrounding online culture, not knowing what ‘OMG’ stands for and saying he doesn’t use emojis because ‘I prefer spelling things correctly’.
In an infamous interview in 2017, Cillian admitted that he didn’t know what a ‘meme’ was, despite being the subject of several.
Last month, he confessed he had now become clued up, thanks in some part to his two teenage sons.
Speaking to Margot Robbie in Variety ‘actors on actors’ interview, he said: ‘I have two teenage boys. I do know what a meme is. Now I know that there are memes about me not knowing what a meme is.’
Margot joked that it was ‘like the “Inception” of memes. A meme within a meme’ while Cillian admitted at the time he genuinely did not know.
However, he pointed out it was a while ago and added: ‘And I think children started that stuff, right? Now that it’s become this sort of meme that’s eating itself, I am aware.
‘But it’s mostly because of people either sending it to me or showing me and saying, “Look, you gotta look at this”.’
Tyler Fields is your internet guru, delving into the latest trends, developments, and issues shaping the online world. With a focus on internet culture, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies, Tyler keeps readers informed about the dynamic landscape of the internet and its impact on our digital lives.
