For the most part, Saturday, April 7th, 2012 was your typical spring day across the Oklahoma City Metro. The air was mild, the wind was blowing, and at the Chateau Deville apartment complex near NW 22nd and Villa, Kimberely Wilkins was dealing with her bronchitis.
Late in the afternoon, though, tragedy struck. A fire broke out in a disabled woman's home, and multiple apartment units were quickly ablaze! Residents, who at first thought somebody may be barbecuing, quickly fled to the parking lot for cold pops and safety.
Not too long after, KFOR Channel 4 arrived on the scene for the typical apartment fire story. Little did they, or anyone, know they were about the film perhaps the most viral and well-known local TV news clip in Internet history...
Yes, today marks the 10th anniversary of The Chateau Deville apartment fire, and the sudden viral arrival of the one and only Kimberely Wilkins, better known as "Sweet Brown."
Where has the time gone?
As you probably know, the clip of Sweet Brown's interview took off on blogs, social media, message boards, YouTube, and all other corners of the 2012 Internet. It then took hold of the national media, and before you could run for your life, Jesus, the video had been viewed tens of millions of time.
Sweet Brown rode the sudden fame well. She booked commercial deals, appeared on Tosh.O and other late-night shows, and watched as her quotes became household catchphrases, with everyone from Beyonce...
To Stuart Scott...
Quoting her whenever they had the chance.
She was even played by Queen Latifa in a Jimmy Kimmel sketch...
For the most part, it appeared that Sweet Brown was able to monetize her viral fame. She had a cameo in a Tyler Perry movie and signed up to co-host the greatest trash reality show in history – Cheater's.
But then, almost as quickly as she arrived on the scene, Sweet Brown vanished.
Back in 2015, on the three-year anniversary of the video going viral, Louis asked "Whatever happened to Sweet Brown?" Here we are in 2022 and we still don't know the answer. She's basically gone A.W.O.L.
In a perfect world, I imagine Sweet Brown living on a Caribbean island, fat and happy, sipping on a cold pop, enjoying the fruits of her fame. But, alas, the world isn't perfect, and we have hundreds of case studies that show that people who find themselves dropped into sudden fame and fortune usually don't handle it that well. I sure hope that's not the case with Sweet Brown. If you know what she's been up to, leave us a comment to let us know how she is doing. A
Also, please remind her that we still want our cold pop...
