SCITUATE, Mass. (AP/WHDH) — A Massachusetts teenager who took a selfie with Justin Timberlake during the Super Bowl halftime show has become a social media sensation.
Thirteen-year-old Ryan McKenna said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday that his phone “exploded” with messages and phone calls and he now has thousands of new social media followers.
Ryan says he was unprepared for his brush with fame. Timberlake, he said, “just came up and I just like jumped right in there with him.”
Twitter was quick to guess what Ryan was looking at when he was shown on camera looking at his phone. The boy told 7News he was trying to get to the camera app to snap a selfie with Timberlake.
Ryan, a Scituate resident, also noted that Timberlake posted the photo to his Instagram. “He just posted the picture, so, that’s so cool. Like, 50 million followers he has,” he said.
#SuperBowlSelfie pic.twitter.com/JAJWoDmUFc
— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) February 5, 2018
He got a shout out from his school, the private Derby Academy in Hingham south of Boston, which tweeted out one of McKenna’s photos.
Celebrities, like Ryan Seacrest, took to Twitter to share the photo. Seacrest joked that Ryan was his “#SuperBowl MVP.”
And a shout-out to my #SuperBowl MVP: this kid who kept his cool under pressure, unlocked his phone and opened his camera app just in time for a selfie with @JTimberlake pic.twitter.com/TJH2Qv9hlA
— Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) February 5, 2018
Ryan is also getting some free skiing. He was wearing a sweatshirt bearing the name of Maine’s Sunday River ski resort, which offered him a free season pass.
When asked if he had plans to see Timberlake any time soon, he told 7News: “Yeah, I think so. If he comes to TD Garden, I’ll do a concert with him anytime.”
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