Wyatt Koch's Shirt Video — Adam Johnson tweet showing close-up of Wyatt Koch's patterned shirts

Wyatt Koch's Shirt Video

2017viral videoclassic

Published October 25, 2026

Wyatt Koch, son of billionaire Bill Koch, filmed a promotional video in 2017 for his Palm Beach shirt line Wyatt Ingraham, speaking about passion while wearing a button-up covered in money bags. The clip went viral on December 19, 2017, after the New York Post's Page Six linked to it, and Twitter users seized on it in the days after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed. By late December 2017, Vanity Fair had dubbed Koch 'the face of Trump's tax plan.'

accidental fame memes political satire memes privilege class memes cringe memes 2017 memes

Overview

The video plays as a voiceover, with Koch explaining what the phrase 'be bold' means to him while footage shows him driving a Humvee around Palm Beach and partying on a yacht2. During parts of the clip he wears the 'Wall Street' button-up, a design covered in dollar bills and literal money bags that retailed for $119 on his site2. His Wyatt Ingraham brand, launched in 2015, sells loud patterns including an orange shirt printed with Italian desserts called 'Cannoli for Everyone' and a black-and-white 'Behind the Eight Ball' design2.

Koch delivers lines about authenticity, confidence, and wanting the shirts worn 'in the boardroom or in the discoteca or a nightclub, or on a yacht'1. Writers made the shirts the central joke, with Esquire calling them the 'ugliest shirts on the planet'8 and GQ comparing them to 'Going Out Shirts on LSD'3.

Origin & Background

Platform
Instagram (origin) / Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Wyatt Koch
Date
2017

Wyatt Koch originally posted the video to Instagram during the summer of 2017 as promotional material for Wyatt Ingraham, the Palm Beach clothing brand named after his middle name4. The Instagram post was later deleted, but a copy was uploaded to YouTube on June 6, 2017, where it stayed accessible after the original came down7.

In the clip Koch recounts advice from his father, Bill Koch, who told him 'you can do whatever you want to in life, just make sure you do it well and do it with passion'1. He then explains that 'be bold' means being authentic, confident, and 'always a gentleman'1. Wyatt Ingraham launched in 2015 as a small Palm Beach operation that handled press through Tusk Marketing, a firm run by a longtime family friend3.

▶

Watch Video

X

How It Spread

The video gained wider notice on December 19, 2017, when the New York Post's Page Six embedded it in a story about Koch suing his ex-fiancée to recover a $180,000 engagement ring1. That same day, writer David Roth linked the clip on Twitter and sarcastically congratulated Koch on getting richer from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which had just passed the House5. The tweet collected roughly 1,300 retweets and 2,900 likes4.

Hours later, @AdamJohnsonNYC posted the video with the caption 'can't look away,' logging about 1,700 retweets and 5,300 likes6. Vanity Fair published a piece arguing Koch had 'inadvertently emerged as the face of Trump's tax plan,' citing the David Roth tweet and screenshots of the Wall Street shirt2. GQ ran a feature in which the writer called the Wyatt Ingraham office and spoke with the brand's publicist, Annie Smith of Tusk Marketing, about the moneybag design3.

Esquire, Spin, and Mashable also wrote about the clip within days, with headlines focused on the shirts' aesthetic and Koch's family wealth84. Coverage framed the video as an unintended symbol of GOP tax policy, pairing stills of the Wall Street shirt with the just-passed legislation2.

Timeline

2017-06-06

A copy of Wyatt Koch's Wyatt Ingraham promotional video is uploaded to YouTube after the Instagram original is deleted.

2017-12-19

The New York Post's Page Six publishes a story on Koch's engagement ring lawsuit and embeds the shirt video.

2017-12-19

David Roth and @AdamJohnsonNYC share the clip on Twitter, tying it to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and sending it viral.

2017-12-20

Vanity Fair, GQ, Esquire, Spin, and Mashable publish coverage of the video and the Wyatt Ingraham shirt line.

Loading tweet...

How to Use This Meme

Rather than a remixable template, the clip spread as a direct share. Users typically embedded or linked to the YouTube copy with a sarcastic one-line caption connecting Koch to wealth inequality or the Trump tax bill, as David Roth and @AdamJohnsonNYC did on December 19, 201756.

Frequently Asked Questions