William Glen Harold Herrington, known professionally as Billy Herrington, was an American model and pornographic film actor. In the late 2000s, his appearances in various gay pornography movies led him to become a popular Internet meme on video sharing websites such as Japan's Nico Nico Douga, where he was referred to by the sobriquet "Aniki". Since then, at least 110,000 short mash-up parodies of his clips — known as "Gachimuchi" — have been produced by fans.
Early life and career
Herrington was born in North Babylon, New York. Herrington grew up in Long Island learning karate from his father, a sensei. He had interests in boxing, wrestling and martial arts, but did not start bodybuilding until he was 24 years old, after moving to New York City. Herrington began his erotic career when his then girlfriend surreptitiously submitted his nude pictures to Playgirl magazine. The photographs won him a "Real Men of the Month" contest and a $500 prize. His appearance in the magazine caught the eye of famed photographer Jim French, but it was two years before Herrington posed for his first Colt calendars for French. Soon after, Herrington was filming hardcore gay adult films for All Worlds Video, and appearing on mainstream TV programs such as Love Connection and the Ricki Lake talk show. In 2002, Herrington said the adult film industry helped him to understand his bisexuality. In 2016, he wrote on Twitter that he was not bisexual, but heterosexual. Among his starring roles is the Roman emperor in the Danish feature filmHotMen CoolBoyz. Herrington's scene in Conquered with Nino Bacci, Colton Ford, Blake Harper, and Jay Ross won the "Best Group Sex Scene" at the 2002 Adult Erotic Gay Video Awards. Occasionally, Herrington performed striptease acts at gay clubs in the United States.
Internet meme
Herrington gained fame in Japan as an Internet meme, after a clip from one of his videos Workout was posted on Niconico, a Japanese video sharing website. Thousands of mash-up parody videos of him have been made, many of which utilize deliberate mishearings of lines from his films. He is affectionately called "Aniki" among the Nico Nico Douga community, and most of his videos are deliberately mistagged with "Wrestling Series", "Forest Fairy", "Philosophy", or all three. In February 2009, Herrington visited Japan to attend a live online event hosted by Niconico and garage kit maker Good Smile Company. Herrington said that he is flattered and humbled by his fans' creativity. A limited-edition Herrington figure was announced for a July 2009 release. Two other limited-editions Herrington action figures were announced for the Halloween and Christmas holiday. The Halloween figure was released in October 2009 and the Christmas one was released in December 2009; both are Nico Nico Chyokuhan exclusives. As of March 2018, over 110,000 Gachimuchi videos had been uploaded on YouTube alone.
Death
During the evening of March 1, 2018, Herrington was involved in a car accident on California State Route 111 in Rancho Mirage. He was found trapped in the wreckage and was brought to a Palm Springs hospital, where he died the next day. News broke of his death one day later. Fans responded with hundreds of tributes across video sharing sites and message boards. One tribute video uploaded on Niconico accumulated over 80,000 views in less than one week. Herrington was buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California.
