Muay Thai popularity grows, viral American child’s video sparks global interest
An American child’s viral Instagram video expressing fondness for Thai boxing, better known as Muay Thai, has been hailed as a testament to the global appeal and recognition of Thailand’s soft power.
The report emerged today revealing that Korn Chatikavanij, the former head of the audacious Thai Nation Development Party, acknowledged the incident on his personal Facebook page, boosting Muay Thai’s popularity on a global scale.
Korn referred to a particular American child who posted a video on Instagram, promising to follow the most-liked comment if the child reached 200,000 followers.
The video unexpectedly went viral, leading to a comment suggesting that the child should travel to Thailand to train in Muay Thai at a small-town training camp.
The comment further advised the child to learn the Thai language and earn the acceptance of Thai people. This comment received approximately 2.7 million likes, allegedly setting a record for the most likes on an Instagram comment.
The child’s follower count has now surged past 300,000, prompting Korn to encourage Thai people to prepare to welcome the young American. Embellishing on the incident.
“This humorous incident shows that we Thais have our own unique characteristics and charm, and we still appear exotic in the eyes of the world. This kind of viral content is promoting our country without the need for a budget, and even if we had one, we couldn’t possibly achieve this level of recognition.”
Korn later used his personal Instagram account @korngothailand to further comment on the child’s Instagram, expressing immense belief that the child would never have imagined their clip attracting such widespread attention.
He reassured the child that there was no pressure and that Thais would be happy to teach them to say “hello” and “thank you” in Thai. He expressed confidence that two gentlemen would be willing to help with the Muay Thai training, reported KhaoSod.
He then tagged Buakaw Banchamek @buakaw1, a famous boxer, and Jaa Phanom Yeerum, known in the West as Tony Jaa, an actor and martial artist who has showcased the art of Muay Thai to global applause @tonyjaaofficial.
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