Ricky Gervais sparks #karmadillo after man's bullet backfires off armadillo
Actor and comedian Ricky Gervais got a kick out of Friday's story about a man in Texas who was wounded after he fired a gun at an armadillo in his yard, causing the bullet to ricochet back to hit him in the face.
Gervais tweeted a link to CBC News' story about the armadillo Saturday morning, along with an edited photo of what appears to be an armadillo wearing a pair of sunglasses. He included the hashtag #karmadillo, a portmanteau of karma and armadillo.
Texas man shoots armadillo, bullet ricochets back into his face <a href="http://t.co/1TNl5y3yVN">http://t.co/1TNl5y3yVN</a> karmadillo!
—@rickygervais"I just told him to put the gun down or one of us was gonna get hurt." <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/karmadillo?src=hash">#karmadillo</a> <a href="http://t.co/bBGNXs9fZA">pic.twitter.com/bBGNXs9fZA</a>
—@rickygervaisMeanwhile the Texan guy has to explain he lost a gunfight with an unarmed armadillo.
—@rickygervaisGervais wasn't the first to coin "karmadillo" when the story broke — it was posted multiple times in the comments section on CBCNews.ca, on our Facebook page and on other news outlets' coverage.
But Gervais got the ball rolling with the help of his 9.52 million followers, and it's since been used more than 1,000 times on Twitter alone.
"This is going to hurt you far more than its going to hurt me. Don't do it man." - <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/karmadillo?src=hash">#karmadillo</a> <a href="https://t.co/HObxKWMnpt">https://t.co/HObxKWMnpt</a>
—@loewenchris<a href="https://twitter.com/NikiRust">@NikiRust</a> So Niki Rust what do you think about <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/karmadillo?src=hash">#karmadillo</a>.. Should hunted animals be allowed to defend themsleves <a href="http://t.co/Y4sEj0g2yH">pic.twitter.com/Y4sEj0g2yH</a>
—@MrTonyMan“ Texas man shoots <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Armadillo?src=hash">#Armadillo</a>. Bullet ricochets back in to his face: <a href="http://t.co/PdGE1zcDta">http://t.co/PdGE1zcDta</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Karmadillo?src=hash">#Karmadillo</a>” <a href="http://t.co/KheHrZLVTP">pic.twitter.com/KheHrZLVTP</a>
—@coolcats70This guy obviously didn't know that armadillo means 'little armoured one'. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/karmadillo?src=hash">#karmadillo</a> <a href="https://t.co/LbyEComyLZ">https://t.co/LbyEComyLZ</a>
—@MarleyWorldBook<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Karmadillo?src=hash">#Karmadillo</a> is my word of the day. Don't shoot armadillos.
—@b_auntieThis is at least the second time an armadillo's natural armour caused an unfortunate backfire in the United States. BBC News reported in April that a similar incident happened in Georgia.