What's better than one selfie with Justin Timberlake? Two. (Obviously.)
Ryan McKenna stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show Friday, where the 13-year-old reminisced about unwittingly becoming part of Timberlake's 2018 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance.
"Boy, your life has changed, hasn't it?" DeGeneres asked.
"Yeah," the teen admitted. "This is so amazing."
Initially, McKenna — a diehard New England Patriots fan — was just excited to be at the game.
"My dad told me two weeks before and I just started crying. I couldn't believe it. Just to go to the Super Bowl is a dream come true," he said.
Fans were given no warning that Timberlake would be coming into the stands at the end of his set.
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"We didn't know," he told DeGeneres. "The lady told us we were in a good section, but we had no idea Justin was going to be there."
McKenna was seated a few rows back, but he was determined to get a selfie with the pop star.
"I pushed through — I was elbowing people," he said. "But I got there and I was there with him."
McKenna also had a good laugh over how his selfie went viral.
"I have the iPhone 6, so that thing's slow. It just shut off," the Massachusetts teen said. "That's why all the memes formed."
As if appearing on DeGeneres' talk show wasn't exciting enough, she had arranged another surprise. "There's someone on the phone who wants to say hi to you right now..." she teased.
"No!" McKenna said, his eyes beginning to water.
"Ryan!" Timberlake said.
"Oh, my God!" McKenna gasped.
"It's nice to meet you, finally," Timberlake told him.
"Oh, my God!" McKenna said. "I can't believe this!"
"How are you doin', man?" Timberlake asked.
"I'm awesome," McKenna said. "How are you, man?"
After DeGeneres complimented Timberlake on his performance, he explained how it all came together. "Basically, I knew that I wanted to end the performance with 'Can't Stop the Feeling!' because I knew how people respond to that song," the performer said. "And then cut to Ryan!"
"He's so awesome," McKenna said. "He's just an awesome dancer, singer—everything!"
Unbeknownst to him, the best surprise was yet to come.
"I'll tell you what I want to do: Because it was so unexpected that you came down, and because all of this has happened, I thought to myself, 'I really want to meet you properly,'" Timberlake said. "I'm going to be coming to TD Garden on tour to play in Boston. I'd like to invite you and your family to come."
"Thank you so much!" said McKenna, bursting into tears. "Oh, my gosh!"
"Ryan, I look forward to meeting you," Timberlake said, "and our second selfie together."
