Twitter is burning, and it’s all Nero’s fault. The Roman emperor is going viral after users stumbled across an incredibly realistic sculpture of the Roman imperator, who looks more like he belongs on Reddit’s r/KotakuInAction than ruling Rome.
Early Tuesday morning, The Enthusiast author Josh Fruhlinger shared three photos showing off a hyper-realistic artistic depiction of Nero, complete with excruciatingly detailed hair, skin blemishes, a Roman nose, and an arrogant smirk. Together, Nero looks a lot like an “internet neckbeard,” or a (usually cis, straight, and white) man who spends their time complaining about women on the internet.
Observe.
It’s shockingly accurate.
“Someone made some a super lifelike nero head based on one of the most famous portrait busts of him and folks,” Fruhlinger tweeted, “i am horrified.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Fruhlinger for comment.
https://twitter.com/jfruh/status/1100278823172530177
For the record, the sculpture is from Spanish artist Césares de Roma, who creates realistic busts of historical Roman figures. Case in point, his Nero piece might as well be a profile picture from a Comicsgate fan review-bombing Captain Marvel on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s so lifelike, it’s hard to see anything but a basement dweller in his face.
Twitter quickly took notice, dubbing Nero “the original neckbeard.”
https://twitter.com/ivygirl851/status/1100306801621434368
Wow I absolutely actually hate this https://t.co/XohbOVWKCS
— Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) February 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/melvillmatic/status/1100458313333047297
Nero looks like that guy at every party wearing a Grateful Dead shirt. https://t.co/JVanNfpVkJ
— Follow Me On Bluesky @DaveScheidt This Place Sucks (@DaveScheidt) February 27, 2019
Oh lordy. It’s Chuck Johnson. https://t.co/0AWw3fuaR0
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) February 26, 2019
Nero the OG neckbeard. https://t.co/xO6PGLSY3t
— AceAphrodite (@mouthyasexual) February 27, 2019
Others shared their Nero horror stories.
Nero randomly found me on a Facebook group and messaged me “hi” at 4:26am and then called a fat whore when I didn’t respond five minutes later https://t.co/R4vU5kOFLg
— Angelina (@whyangelinawhy) February 26, 2019
My boy Nero here telling me how Black Panther was racist against whites ackshully! https://t.co/zH9Y4ndd9Y
— Casey Explosion (@CaseyExplosion) February 26, 2019
Nero just stood up during the Q&A part of the panel and said “I have a question and a comment” and we are still hearing about his extensive research on biases against white male programmers. He is currently reading from a printout of the google manifesto. https://t.co/Ssj9ot0X33
— Flavia Dzodan (@redlightvoices) February 26, 2019
when SJWs are ruining video games by reducing the breast sizes of female characters https://t.co/8HhTBLh9JJ
— Rob (@robrousseau) February 26, 2019
Oh, and for the record, r/KotakuInAction is having a normal one over this. One Redditor shared an A.V. Club article on Neckbeard Nero to r/KotakuInAction, warning the site “libels gamers and people who hated the Last Jedi.” Because clearly, that’s what libel is.
“What nonsense is this? Everyone knows that Nero is a cute fuckable waifu,” one gamer replied, linking to a Google Image search of Nero Cladius from Fate/Grand Order. “Duh…”
Sometimes, the stories write themselves.
