The man who launched a million memes for his lively approach to salting steak doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.
‘Salt Bae,’ or Nusret Gökçe as he’s known to family and friends, posed for photos with Euroleague Champions Fenerbahce after the basketball club’s 80-64 tournament final win against Greek powerhouse Olympiakos on Sunday.
The chef turned internet sensation could be found in various mashups and photoshops on all corners of the web after releasing a video of himself preparing a steak on Instagram in January.
In the video, Gökçe carves up a huge, insanely delicious looking Ottoman steak before sprinkling a healthy amount of salt on the meat, in a style that KnowYourMeme describes as ‘flamboyant.’
With salt often used as a term for bitterness by fans in the sports world, the video was ripe for parody on social media.
It’s unclear exactly what connection Gökçe has to the basketball club. Gökçe, like Fenerbahce, is Turkish and according to NBC News, Gökçe operates a chain of restaurants throughout Turkey and the Middle East.
Maybe the basketball stars took a page out of Leonardo Dicaprio’s book and simply wanted to party with an internet icon.
Gökçe also took to twitter to congratulate the team, indicating he at least has a cursory interest in the club (a tweet that strangely seems to praise a certain English Premiere League team when using Bing Translate).
Regardless, Salt Bae found his way onto the court much like he found his way into the public consciousness and some questions are just better left unanswered.
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For those unfamiliar with the Turkish team, the roster features a number of former NBA lottery selections including Ekpe Udoh (drafted 6th overall by the Warriors in 2010), Jan Veselý (drafted 6th overall by the Wizards in 2011) and Anthony Bennett (drafted 1st overall by the Cavaliers in 2013).
Udoh was named the Final Four’s Most Valuable Player and Bennett continued his blistering NBA pace by scoring zero points in one minute.