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Star Wars kid unrecognisable after becoming viral video star 20 years ago
ALMOST two decades after going viral, the infamous 'Star Wars Kid' is all grown up and completely unrecognisable.
The Canadian teen, whose real name is Ghyslain Raza, was one of the internet's early viral video stars.
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On YouTube alone, more than 36million people have watched as he goofed about with a golf ball stick pretending to use a lightsaber.
It even went on to be parodied in South Park, American Dad and Family Guy.
Though many saw it as a good laugh back in the day, Raza actually suffered widespread cyberbullying as a result.
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He had privately filmed the clip in school at the age of 15 but didn't intend for it to be made public.
But some students got hold of it and released the video onto the internet, leading to unrelenting ridicule.
In a 2013 interview he said it was a "dark period" in his life.
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"On the Internet, there are no limits," he said. "It was poison."
Years later, Raza filed a $250,000/£145,000 lawsuit against four schoolmates he blamed for the nightmare.
They eventually reached an out-of-court settlement.
The unintended internet star has since used the video to open up about the effects of bullying and harassment, in an attempt to help others.
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He has also revealed that he was approached by several of the world's biggest talk shows at the time but turned them down over fears they just wanted to use him as a "circus act".
Today, the force is strong for Raza, who is now an accomplished lawyer in Canada.
Last year he won a prestigious award for a piece of research on Quebec’s legal tradition.
In the autumn, he started a PhD at Queen's University.
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In other news, Apple has become the first company to hit a stock market valuation of $3trillion (£2.22trillion).
Popular Twitch creator Sliker has been banned from the platform after sharing nude imagery of fellow streamer Amouranth.
And internet users have been urged to check their online accounts against one of 2021's worst cyber threats.
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