Internet comedian behind ‘What are those?’ Brandon (Young Busco) Moore dies at 31

Brandon (Young Busco) Moore, the internet comedian whose footwear-dissing “What are those?” meme took the world by storm in 2015, has died. He was 31.

Moore reportedly died Sunday, according to a Facebook post shared by his mother, Valerie Cooper.

“My only child. . . . My faith will not falter!!!! Lord be my peace,” Cooper wrote, according to People. “I can’t believe that the earth is still moving when I feel as though my world has stopped.”

The comedian’s wife Noonie told TMZ that Moore’s death came as a shock, and he died in his sleep.
 

An autopsy reportedly showed no signs of
foul play, and a toxicology report is now underway.

Moore, who shared videos to social media under the moniker Young Busco, shot to viral fame in the summer of 2015 after he filmed an encounter with Sgt. Sean Fenner as Fenner arrested Moore’s friend Myesha for public intoxication in Berkeley, Calif.

In the clip, Moore approaches Fenner and tells him, “Officer, I’ve got one question for you,” before zooming in on the officer’s clunky black boots and shouting, “What are thooooose?!”
 

 

Moore later told Complex that “What are those?” is something he’s said since he was a kid to mock his friends’ footwear, and decided only in the “spur of the moment” to yell it at the cop.

“To be honest, I thought he was going to slap me with his nightstick,” the comedian said.

Moore shared the clip to Instagram, but it took off only after user A-RODney King posted it to the now-defunct Vine app, where it’s since racked up nearly 40 million views.

The phrase quickly exploded, and even Michael Jordan fell victim to the viral diss; The NBA legend was hosting a Q&A at his flight school summer camp when a teenager hit him with a, “What are those?!”

“Hey look man, I’m lost on that Vine stuff,” Jordan responded.

Even years later the meme lived on, getting a shoutout in this year’s Marvel superhero flick “Black Panther.”........

 

• Nydailynews