Video of President Solís swallowing a wasp continues to circle the globe

Almost a week after the video of President Luis Guillermo Solís accidentally swallowing a wasp was seen around Costa Rica, the close encounter is still making a buzz in social media and news stories around the world.

On Wednesday, David Greene of National Public Radio in the United States summed it up this way on the air.

“If you’re a head of state, your best-laid plans can be appended by circumstances. Events can force you to change course. And your country may need you to stay calm in the face of adversity,” Greene said on NPR’s Morning Edition. “So we have to hand it to Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis. He was speaking on TV when an enemy attacked… A wasp.”

On Monday night the curious event was even part of the opening monologue of The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon.

Fallon presented an excerpt of the video of Solís’ press conference on June 15. The president was taking questions from reporters during the inauguration of an asphalt plant in the Southern Zone when a wasp flew right into his mouth.

“I ate it. I ate… I ate the wasp,” Solís said, almost proudly, before bursting into laughter. “You don’t see that every day… Pure protein!”

“They’re sending this to CNN, I know,” he added rather presciently while he was handed a bottle of water. The video quickly went viral.

“Wow. Okay, I’m impressed. I would vote for a guy who could eat wasps then laugh afterwards,” said one of the comments on the video posted by the late show host.

“That guy gives Chuck Norris a run for his money,” another person said.

Fallon himself later Tweeted about it on his profile:

From NBC in New York to the Indian Express in New Delhi (whose headline began, “Eww!”), outlets around the world shared the video, most praising the President’s aplomb.

Local TV station PZ Actual posted the original video that has been replicated in thousands of social media profiles and has been aired on news stories in media outlets across the Americas, Europe and Asia.