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Roaring Kitty: GameStop trader defends himself in Congress with cat-lawyer meme, Internet says 'he nailed it'

'Best pandemic show, hands down. @AMCTheatres should really consider private (due to pandemic crisis) screenings for the future. TML,' a user wrote

Keith Gill, the investor whose 'Roaring Kitty' posts on YouTube and Reddit initiated a frenzy of GameStop stock purchases, told a House committee he wasn't the cause of the astonishing price surge that rattled financial markets last month. In January, a short squeeze resulted in a 1,500 percent increase in GameStop's share price over the course of two weeks, reaching an all-time intraday high of US$483.00 as of January 29, on the New York Stock Exchange. This effect was mainly attributed to a coordinated effort by the Reddit community r/wallstreetbets, a Reddit chat room, whose members had ballooned to over 3 million, motivating each other to keep piling into shares and call options.

A jump in after-hours trading up more than 60 per cent, was triggered after Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted a tweet that included "Gamestonk!" (in reference to r/wallstreetbets) and a link to the community, that largely hyped the stock. Gill, known on YouTube and Twitter as Roaring Kitty and DeepF****ingValue on Reddit, joined the CEOs of Robinhood, Citadel, Reddit, and Melvin Capital, as part of the committee’s investigation into the wild retail investor-driven short squeeze of GameStop’s stock price. The squeeze saw Robinhood restrict purchases of the stock, and Melvin, which shorted the stock, lose millions of dollars. 

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'I am not a cat'

Appearing via Zoom for a House Financial Services Committee hearing, the 34-year-old Massachusetts investor winked to his anonymous account, appearing in front of a cat poster, saying to the panel: "I am not a cat. Nor am I an institutional investor, nor am I a hedge fund. I do not have clients, and I do not provide personalized investment advice for fees or commissions," adding that his posts 'did not cause the movement of billions of dollars into GameStop shares'.

In his statements before the committee, Gill provided his investment thesis for betting on GameStop, saying that he believed the company’s stock was undervalued. “The market was underestimating the prospects of GameStop’s legacy business, and overestimating the prospect of bankruptcy,” Gill told the committee. “GameStop stores still provide real value to consumers, and reliable revenue for GameStop.” The gaming merchandise retailer was up as much as $48.30 following Gill’s statements but eventually finished the day in the red at $40.69, according to Yahoo! Finance. But from being a virtual nobody, Gill became a 'People's Champ', proving that winning the crowd holds an insurmountable value in the age of social media.

'Made the billionaires look like ducks, congrats'

Twitter users defended Gill, claiming to "start a revolution" if he goes to jail. "If @TheRoaringKitty goes to jail, I will lead a revolution in the streets #DDTG." Another tweet appreciated Gill's responses in the committee saying, "The other guys: Whatever crap their lawyers said. DFV: Actually answered, honest + I like the stock. made the billionaires look like ducks. congrats dude." "I watched much of the hearing. You stole the show. Confident, articulate, fun, intelligent, prepared, thoughtful and honest and it showed! God Bless U DFV," said another.

Another Twitter user tagged Chewy, pet-related e-commerce company, to hire Gill. "@ryancohen you should consider hiring Keith Gill a.k.a. roaring kitty as “head of culture and innovation”. He’s brought more attention to GameStop than any marketing campaign ever. He also sees a vision for the company that you would only hope every employee shared."

Praising his defense performance, a user commented, "It’s so damn fitting that the random GameStop investor they brought for this hearing is sitting in a gamer chair, using a streamer mic, and has a little cat poster in the background that says “Hang in there.” He knows his role here is to be a meme, and he nailed it."

'Best pandemic show, hands down'

Another tweet commented on how good the hearing was, saying, "Best pandemic show, hands down. @AMCTheatresshould really consider private (due to pandemic crisis) screenings for the future. TML". "Never seen so many people across the political spectrum be like, “We like this dude and we’re glad he’s making money.” It’s a beautiful thing," a Twitter user noted. Another shared a picture of Gill and Vlad Tenev, Bulgarian-American billionaire entrepreneur and co-founder and CEO of financial services company Robinhood, saying, "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't like to play #poker against these dudes. #vladtenev #RobinHood #GameStop $gme #Reddit #KeithGill #RoaringKitty #Congress #congresshearing."

'We'll be telling your tale to our grandkids'

People were never so happy about someone else making a lot of money. "I have never felt this happy about someone else making a ton of money. Well done sir!," said a tweet, while another said, "You’re brilliant, both in memes and in finance." "GameStop should make Roaring Kitty the face of their company," said a tweet, while another quipped, "Absolute legend. We'll be telling you tale to our grandkids."