BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
- A photo of a cold-looking Bernie Sanders swiftly became a meme after the inauguration.
- A website allows users to place the photo anywhere in the world using Google Maps.
- The internet quickly sent Sanders on a global tour from the Eiffel Tower to Trump Tower.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A photo of Sen. Bernie Sanders at President Joe Biden’s inauguration immediately caught the attention of the internet on Wednesday, and a website now allows users to place the photo anywhere in the world.
The website, created by Nick Sawhney, a master’s student at NYU studying computer science, asks for a zipcode or address and then puts Sanders in that neighborhood using Google Maps.
People quickly sent Sanders on a global tour everywhere from the Eiffel Tower to the streets of Dublin and their own front doors. One Twitter user sent Sanders to Ireland’s Great Blasket Island.
—Lesley (@island_lesley) January 21, 2021
Another sent Sanders to a beach in San Francisco’s Bay Area.
—fadumo osman (@fadumzz) January 21, 2021
This Twitter user found out the coordinates for what looks like a snow cave with a wooly mammoth inside.
—Pepijn Willekens | Rover Wars 12 February on Xbox (@PepijnWillekens) January 21, 2021
People were also quick to stick the sitting Sanders at popular Donald Trump-related locations, including Trump Tower and the Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia.
—Bottom of the Main Line (@MainLineSpy) January 21, 2021
Others enthusiastically sent Sanders to their front lawns.
—Flatten the Curve: Isolate Now (@Anglojen) January 21, 2021
Sanders looks particularly unimpressed by the Eiffel Tower in this picture.
—Laurie (@CndnSheepdog) January 21, 2021
Sawhney, 22, told Insider he came up with the idea for the site after exchanging Sanders memes with his friends in a group chat after President Joe Biden's inauguration.
"My friends and I were just sending silly memes to each other that we were making and sending to our group chat of like, 'Oh, look ay Bernie Sanders on the F train, Bernie Sanders in front of the library, our old school,' that kind of stuff," Sawhney said. "I asked my friend for one of the little cutouts he was making of Bernie on his phone and I was just like, 'Yeah, this probably could be a website pretty easily.'"
Sawhney told Insider he's "overwhelmed" with the response to his site but pleased that so many people are finding enjoyment from it. Because of the increased volume in traffic, Sawhney said he stayed up all night improving the site's server and troubleshooting bugs to make sure it ran smoothly.
He's also had to deal with the cost. Anytime someone enters a location into the search bar, Sawhney is charged for the resulting image. As of Thursday morning, he'd amassed a bill just short of $1,400. But after having his link featured in a New York Times article, Sawhney said he awoke to donations of around $2,600.
He said he will keep the site up as long as the donations allow him to, which he hopes will be a long time.
"If there's something to go viral for, I feel like something silly like this is probably the best way," he said.