I Like Turtles

“I Like Turtles,” also known as “Zombie Kid,” is the 2007 KGW News catchphrase and viral video centered on ten-year-old Jonathon Ware. The recognizable moment pairs his zombie face paint with a brief, unexpected declaration that he likes turtles.

On May 31, 2007, ten-year-old Jonathon Ware attended Portland’s Rose Festival with his face painted as a zombie. When KGW correspondent Nancy Francis asked him about the face paint, he answered, “I like turtles,” providing the interview moment that became the meme’s source. Know Your Meme’s overview places a subsequent YouTube upload in late May 2007; its more specific account dates a copy of the KGW segment to June 11.

Know Your Meme reports that CaptJax458 uploaded a copy of the KGW newscast to YouTube on June 11, 2007. The YouTube listing currently gives the title “Zombie Kid Likes Turtles”; this identifies the upload’s present title, not necessarily its title when first posted.

The viral “I Like Turtles” catchphrase associated with Jonathon Ware also took on a broader use: on November 3, 2007, Urban Dictionary recorded it as a response to a boring question someone did not want to answer, while noting it could also express genuine affection for turtles.

Throughout June 2007, the KGW clip spread on YouTube, prompting parody and mashup videos built around Jonathon Ware’s one-line response, “I like turtles.”

Around June 2007, shirts bearing “I like turtles” appeared on merchandise sites including Zazzle, Snorgtees, CafePress, Screened, and Shirtstastegood, taking Ware’s catchphrase from the clip onto commercial products.

Ware and his family were initially unaware of the clip’s viral spread. In early July 2007, his sister learned about his online fame through Myspace; by August, KGW had reunited with the Ware family for a follow-up interview about their reaction to the attention.

After Jonathon Ware’s deadpan “I like turtles” answer during a KGW interview about his zombie face paint went viral, his family initially did not know about the spread; his sister learned of it through Myspace in early July 2007. By August, KGW had reunited with the Ware family for a follow-up. Ware said he had been nervous and unsure what to say, and explained that a nearby turtle display had put turtles on his mind before he blurted out his answer.

The viral “I like turtles” moment brought inquiries to Jonathon Ware’s parents after his sister discovered his internet fame through Myspace. Among those who contacted them were a British ringtone seller and an animal show planning a turtle special.

The “I like turtles” clip later brought Jonathon Ware back to television: on September 15, 2010, he appeared on Tosh.0’s “web redemption” series. He revisited the interview and explained that he had seen a turtle exhibit before getting his face painted, which had put turtles on his mind when he answered the reporter.

In September 2013, Jonathon Ware launched the ItsTurtleTime YouTube channel, where he posted Let’s Play videos featuring various video games, moving from being known mainly through the viral clip to making gaming videos himself.

On July 27, 2023, Paramount Pictures published an advertisement for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem featuring Ware as an adult, recreating his original “I Like Turtles” persona. Paramount’s description called him “Jonathan” and presented the appearance as the Zombie Kid’s first review of the film.

With zombie face paint on his face, ten-year-old Jonathon Ware turned a routine question about his costume into the meme’s deadpan punch line: at Portland’s Rose Festival on May 31, 2007, KGW correspondent Nancy Francis asked about the paint, and he answered, “I like turtles.” The comic mechanism is the abrupt mismatch between an expected comment on zombie makeup and a terse declaration about turtles, making the phrase reusable as a way to evade or dismiss a boring question. On November 3, 2007, Urban Dictionary recorded that use as a response to a boring question while allowing that it could also express genuine affection for turtles. The original answer also had a concrete but unexpected association: in a follow-up at the Ware home about a month after the interview, reported by August 2007, KGW heard Ware say that he had been nervous and did not know what to say, while a nearby turtle display had put turtles on his mind and prompted the response.