The ‘Star Wars Kid’ breaks his silence in new documentary

After nearly 20 years, the man behind 'Star Wars Kid,' Ghyslain Raza breaks his silence to tell his story in a new NFB documentary.

The video was shared around the world. Viewed over a billion times.

It has been called the first ever viral video — a young teen swinging a golf ball retriever — pretending it was a lightsaber. The boy was branded the “Star Wars Kid.”

Originally from Trois-Rivières, Ghyslain Raza says he filmed the video to blow off steam and for his eyes only.

It was shared months later by some of his classmates.

“Not long after I started to figure out the scale at which the video was now circulating. Which was in a matter of days literally around the world,” he said.

Within weeks, Raza was the subject of hateful comments, taunts and insults from all over the world.

“There was the local harassment at school. There was the harassment on the internet and there was a form of media harassment as well. So it was everywhere,” he said.

Raza says local media tried to track him down by going to his home and showing up at his school. And then, international media came calling. From Jay Leno to BBC and Oprah. He declined to speak to them all.