UT professor gets millions of views on ‘staged’ social media video

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville has gone viral on TikTok.

Professor Matthew Pittman has posted a “staged” video in which he wakes up sleeping students by shouting “emo lyrics” at them.

The video exploded on social media, garnering a total of 57.3 million views and counting. It was also published in other media.

Pittman told WSMV that while he was teaching a social media class, he wanted to prove he could create a viral video.

“It’s hilarious, but it was just a sketch,” Pittman said. “It’s a social media course, and every now and then I have to show students that their professor can use the algorithm flexibly.”

Pittman said the idea for the video came to him during his fall break.

“I was driving past my old college alma mater, James Madison University, over fall break and listening to old emo music and it gave me a nostalgic mood,” he said. “I thought, ‘There has to be a way to bring this into the classroom with current college students.'”

Pittman said he had “no idea” the video would go so viral, but the point of this course was to try out all sorts of content ideas.

“We try a lot of stupid ideas, and sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t,” he said.

Pittman is an associate professor in the Tombras School of Advertising and Public Relations and the College of Communication and Information at UTK. He has been teaching there since 2019.

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