Ever make a harmless mistake that gets blown out of dimension ? Ed Balls feel you .
At 11:20 a.m. on April 28 , 2011 , Balls — then a Labour Member of Parliament and Shadow Chancellor — mistakenly squeeze a two - word content : Ed Balls . It was not a tweet he intended to send out into the Earth ; presumptively , it was a round-eyed mixture - up in which he attempted to look his own name on X ( formerly Twitter ) , but alternatively ended up tweeting it .
It was an honorable slip - up , and a funny one to be indisputable — especially since his name happens to be Ed Balls . But the internet is n’t precisely lie with for its collective ability to let thing slither . So more than a tenner later , the great unwashed are still regularly engaging with the original message . To date , it has been retweeted about 120,000 times and received thousands of replies ( which often plainly read “ Ed Balls ” ) .
On the internet — in the UK mostly , but also around the world — April 28 is now celebrated asEd Balls Day , an ironic pseudo - vacation where revelers share their # EdBallsDay memories and well - wishes .
“ I ’ve no idea what to make of it,”Balls admittedin a 2015 consultation . “ It ’s plainly assist by the fact that I have a memorable name . ” To his credit rating , Ball has been a ripe sport about the societal medium botch . He has never prefer to delete the original message , and has evenplayed alongon his eponymous day of honor .
While “ Ed Balls ” the tweet now has a life sentence of its own , Ed Balls the man has no choice but to recover the silver lining in his viral celebrity . “ Who in post - war British politics has had a day named after them ? " he asked . “ You take what you’re able to , really , do n’t you ? "
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A version of this story scarper in 2015 ; it has been updated for 2024 .
