About
Circus Afro is refers to a sequence/song from the movie Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted in which one of the characters does a dance dressed in a rainbow-colored wig and clown suit. It is known for being extremely annoying and obnoxious to many people.
Origin
The Circus Afro scene first appeared online in the trailer for Madagascar 3, released on YouTube[2] in December of 2011. The scene in question features character Marty the Zebra, voiced by actor/comedian Chris Rock, in a polka-dot suit and rainbow-colored wig dancing around, singing, and generally being ridiculous.
While the actual advertisement has been floating around for several months, it attracted the attention of the internet, specifically that of fans of the animated series The Legend of Korra, on June 2nd, 2012. The commercial appeared several times over the course of the show when it aired on the Nickelodeon TV network. Soon after the show, internet users began commenting on the frequency of the ad and its overall irritating nature on websites such as Tumblr and Reddit. One specific instance of this came with a thread on r/TheLastAirbender entitled “The only thing Korra fans hate more than Tarrlok right now…”[3], which expressed popular sentiment towards the obnoxious advertisements.
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References
[1] Wikipedia – Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
[2] YouTube – ‘Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted’ Trailer HD
[3] Reddit – The only thing Korra fans hate more than Tarrlok right now…
