The man behind the viral "Double Rainbow" video has died.
USA Today reports that Paul L. Vasquez died at a hospital in Central California on Saturday at the age of 57. Mariposa County coroner's office did not specify his cause of death. But Vasquez revealed to his Facebook friends that he had undergone testing for COVID-19. He was also open about his other recent health scares and how he vowed to never go to the emergency room.
Vasquez is known on the internet as Yosemitebear. Yosemitebear posted a video on YouTube in 2010 that was shot from his home near the Yosemite Valley. In the video, Vasquez gets emotional because he's amazed by the double rainbow that he's witnessing.
"It's a double rainbow all the way across the sky," he yells. "What does it all mean?"
The video gained a lot of attention on YouTube amassing more than 47 million views. It went on to become a pop culture reference and be featured in several ads for companies including Smartwater, Microsoft, and Delta Air Lines.
"His ‘Double Rainbow’ basically wrote the book on what a viral video was," Vasquez's friend, Robert Borchard, told The Modesto Bee before describing Vasquez's character.
"No matter where I was or what I was doing, Paul was a bright spot, always enthusiastic about the world," Borchard said. "I tend to be a guy who hangs a lot of crepe and manages to focus on the bad things going on in the world. We were a good balance to each other."
Vasquez was divorced and is survived by his two adult children. After learning of his passing, fans took to social media where they remembered Vasquez for bringing them joy with his iconic video.
