The man responsible for starting a Twitter account for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's late cat Paddles has opened up on the whirlwind experience.
The account for the 'First Cat of New Zealand' was established a month ago following Winston Peters' announcement that he'd chosen to form a coalition Government with Labour.
- Paddles, the 'First Cat of New Zealand', is a hit on Twitter
- Tributes flow into SPCA after the death of Jacinda Ardern's cat Paddles
- Man who claims he ran over Paddles speaks out
And it went viral, becoming a worldwide hit in a matter of days, with the likes of the BBC, Buzzfeed and Vanity Fair picking up on the story.
Speaking to The Spinoff, the anonymous mastermind behind the account said he was in the process of finishing up his journalism degree at Wellington's Massey University when the idea came to him.
He said it was mainly just a way to "amuse myself tweeting as a cat" and "make some cat puns" - but it became something else entirely after getting caught up in international Jacindamania.
"The funny thing is, I'm not even that big on cats, and I didn't vote for Labour," he wrote.
"When it went viral I felt quite unqualified to be an unofficial part of Labour Party PR. And I'm more of a dog guy."
The Twitter user said the main lessons he learnt from the account was that "humanity is still kind of okay", "the world is kinda desperate for joy right now" and that "all good things come to an end", a reference to Paddles being run over.
Read the full Spinoff article here.
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