Who is Drew Scanlon? Man behind internet's 'blinking white guy meme' asks netizens to donate to National MS Society

Drew Scanlon is once again trending after his recent social media post, seeking a donation. Notably, Scanlon gained recognition as Blinking White Guy over the years, where his GIF was used to refer to a situation where it is not easy to believe something, as per Know Your Meme.

On September 26, 2025, Drew took to his official handle on X to share a post, adding a link to a website called Blinking Guy. Scanlon had a message for his followers, as he addressed the reason for requesting the donation by writing:

“Hi Internet! I’m Drew and THIS IS MY FACE. If this GIF has ever brought you joy in the past, I humbly ask you to consider making a donation to the National MS Society. It would mean a lot to me and to those I know affected by the disease!”

Scanlon even added his GIF, which has been frequently used for all this time. According to Know Your Meme, the meme went viral around eight years ago when an individual active under the username @eskbl shared it on X (formerly Twitter). He even added a joke speaking about feeling overwhelmed by basic biology.

The post immediately started getting recognition with multiple reactions, starting a new trend where the GIF was added for jokes on social media. Although the GIF went viral in 2017, it was used around two years before it started trending by a NeoGAF user, identified as Tokubetsu, as per Know Your Meme.

Drew Scanlon’s blink was taken from a live-streaming session

The viral meme of Drew Scanlon’s blink originated from an episode of Unprofessional Fridays, which aired in December 2013. The series was created by a famous video game website called Giant Bomb, where staff members brought multiple games for live streaming of the gameplay and cracking jokes at the same time.

Know Your Meme stated that Scanlon was active as a video editor and producer for Giant Bomb when the episode was released. In one particular moment from the episode, Editor-In-Chief Jeff Gerstmann was demonstrating a game called Starbound, which eventually led to the blinking reaction from Scanlon after Jeff said:

“I’ve been doing some farming with my hoe here.”

Around five years ago, Drew Scanlon recalled during a conversation with Know Your Meme that a random individual posted a screenshot of a woman using it on Facebook. Drew said that it was the time when he realized that the blinking moment “had escaped our own weird corner of the internet.”

Drew stated in the interview that he initially believed the internet was a separate world, and it was weird for him to see celebrities using the GIF. He further stated:

“While it is my face, I didn’t create the GIF or turn it into a meme. Often, it doesn’t really feel like it’s me. My friends often send me the ones where I’m God.”

Scanlon later developed a new travel documentary series titled Cloth Map. He has been the co-host of a podcast called Shift+F1, which focuses on Formula 1, and is also the producer of a studio known as Eclipse, as per Know Your Meme. He even collaborated with his wife last year to launch a new podcast, I Think It’s About.

While he is trending for his post seeking donations, he has already raised funds of more than $154,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He even participated in a bike ride organized by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society around nine years ago.