Idris Elba, listen up: you’ve just been bested by Ryan Gosling!
Back in 2017, the staff at an independent coffee shop in Toronto started an online campaign to get Idris Elba to visit while he was in town for the Toronto International Film Festival. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the British actor was a no-show. This time around, the folks at Grinder Coffee decided to turn their attention to some home-grown talent, and the results were far more satisfactory.
Joelle Murray, the shop’s owner, decided that her mark for 2018 was Ryan Gosling, who was in town to promote his film First Man. She spent the week of the festival posting photos with a cardboard cutout of the Ontario-born actor, launching the #ryanneedsgrinder campaign across social media. It wasn’t long before the pleas were picked up by local news organizations and blogs, and eventually, they found their way to the man himself. What else was this nice Canadian boy to do except drop by for a drink, as requested?
The sweet story has been recorded on social media by the coffee shop, but also by Joelle’s nephew, who shared the events, with a very touching commentary about his aunt, on Twitter. Keep reading to see how it all played out.
V proud of my aunt Joelle, who works her ass off as a small business owner of a local independent coffee shop in Leslieville: @GrinderCoffeeTO
1/9 pic.twitter.com/eqyjaI6wbW
— etienne (@etiiiennne) September 11, 2018
She always treats her employees fairly, is an active voice in the neighbourhood, and is one of the funniest and most genuine people you’ll meet.
3/9 pic.twitter.com/Fo6VFQGFac
— etienne (@etiiiennne) September 11, 2018
But lo and behold, her story gets picked up by blogTO, CityTV and the fucking CBC. All of a sudden, her super-low-budget grassroots campaign has legs. People love it – and, I suspect it’s also due in large part to Joelle’s charisma.
5/9 pic.twitter.com/EkEJFFtUpC
— etienne (@etiiiennne) September 11, 2018
So sure enough, Ryan Gosling actually ends up visiting her shop today. In her words, “he just showed up and told me he saw the whole campaign, I told him next time he comes for dinner and a playdate.”
Oh, and I also asked her how he smelled, and she said, “really good!”
7/9 pic.twitter.com/GLku8GcrxS
— etienne (@etiiiennne) September 11, 2018
Joelle deserved this, she finally scored one for the little guy, and she proved that success isn’t always something that’s measured tangibly.@GrinderCoffeeTO #RyanNeedsGrinder
9/9 pic.twitter.com/18Rb1vSiXN
— etienne (@etiiiennne) September 11, 2018
This article originally appeared on Popsugar.