Who Said 'in The Future Everyone Will Be World-famous For 15 Minutes?'

The phrase 'fifteen minutes of fame' has entered into popular usage. It is, however, a paraphrase of a previous quote. In 1968 the artist Andy Warhol declared that 'in the future, everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes'. The rise of reality television in recent times has given new meaning to this phrase, which stemmed from Warhol's cynical view of the media. The artist believed that the press and, in particular, television, had the ability to propel any person to fame. This could occur regardless of how talented (or not) the person was.

In 1979 Warhol believed that he had been vindicated, stating that 'my prediction from the sixties finally came true'. In the intervening years, however, the artist had become so bored of answering questions about what may well have simply been an off-the-cuff remark, that he began offering deliberately contradictory quotes with the intention of confusing the interviewer. He stated, for example, that 'in the future fifteen people will be famous', and that 'in fifteen minutes everyone will be famous'.

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