15 minutes of fame

English

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Etymology

1968, misattributed to Andy Warhol, in a catalogue of an exhibition of his art in Stockholm: “In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”

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Noun

15 minutes of fame pl (plural only)

  1. (idiomatic) A very short time in the spotlight or brief flurry with fame, after which the person or subject involved is quickly forgotten.
    • 2007, Nigel Hamilton, Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency, New York: PublicAffairs, →ISBN, page 274:
      […] Paula [Jones] was, even to her lawyers, a loose cannon—as prepared to risk her marriage and her well-being to get the president to confess his original sin as she was intent on making big money and getting her fifteen minutes of fame.
    • 2008, Frederick Levy, 15 Minutes of Fame: Becoming A Star In The YouTube Revolution‎, Alpha Books, →ISBN:
      In the next chapter, we'll meet twenty-five hopefuls who have already begun to experience their fifteen minutes of fame as a result of exposure on YouTube.
    • 2014, Kip Harding, Mona Lisa Harding, chapter 19, in The Brainy Bunch […] , Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 188:
      By the time we went to Central Park, someone walking in the park said they had just seen us on Fox that morning. It was like being a rock star with a whole fifteen minutes of fame. So it was fun for a time.
    • 2016 January 31, Anna Williamson, “The flip side of instant fame”, in The Guardian‎:
      After just a month on television, this ordinary chap from Catford, south London, was an overnight superstar, ready to milk his 15 minutes of fame.
    • 2022 April 27, Jennifer Schuessler, “An Heir, a $25 Million Giveaway and 30,000 Unopened Letters”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:
      One day in early January 1970, Michael James Brody Jr. stepped off a Pan Am jet at John F. Kennedy Airport and into what would be one of the new decade’s shortest, strangest 15 minutes of fame.

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