Michael Glantz is a man who reached for his fork when all the other guests hit the floor after the gunfire broke out at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner on Saturday night.
Glantz is senior talent agent at the Creative Artists Agency, which is one of Hollywood's most powerful talent firms. In the video shared by CNN's chief media analyst Brian Stelter, he was captured calmly eating his burrata salad even as the stage behind him cleared out and only a rifle-carrying officer was standing there. The moment quickly went viral with the hashtag #saladman trending across social media.
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Why didn't he get on the floor?
{{/usCountry}}Also Read: Cole Allen's first court appearance: 5 chilling things to know about WH dinner shooting suspect
Why didn't he get on the floor?
{{/usCountry}}Glantz was happy to explain himself. In a brief interview with the New York Times, he said he felt no need to panic.
"I'm a New Yorker," he said. "We live with sirens and activity happening all the time. I wasn't scared. There are hundreds of Secret Service agents hurtling themselves over tables and chairs, and I wanted to watch."
When asked why he didn't get on the floor like nearly everyone else in the room, he had a very practical answer.
"First of all, I have a bad back. I couldn't get on the floor, and if I did get on the floor, they'd have to bring in people to get me off the floor. And No. 2, I'm a hygiene freak. There was no freaking way I was getting in my new tux on the dirty Hilton floor. It was not happening," he told the New York Times.
He also told TMZ that he felt very safe, noting the venue was crawling with law enforcement after the shooting. "Not every day you see something like that go down," he said, per TMZ.
What does he think of the Viral Fame?
Glantz told TMZ that he was happy people could find some humor after what he called a "horrific moment," though he was a bit surprised by all the attention. He said it was "silly" how much the salad moment went viral, but added that he didn’t mind people laughing at it, according to TMZ.