Mike Mitchell, the artist who created the now-iconic “I’m With CoCo” image of Conan O’Brien that has circulated through Facebook profile pictures and blogs since NBC’s The Tonight Show scheduling controversy, told TMZ that he’s been paid by Conan’s producers for the right to use the image during Conan’s impending “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour.”
TMZ reports that the producers paid him well enough that he can “take a very, very long vacation.”
Mitchell originally posted the image to TwitPic, but it achieved meme status when it became the profile image for the huge “I’m With CoCo” Facebook group that was used to promote the real-world pro-Conan rallies. Mitchell says he’s been selling merchandise with the logo, and that he has raised $25,000 for Haiti doing so. The terrible earthquake that occurred there took place around the same time as NBC controversy.
Since leaving his post at The Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien has joined Twitter and announced the aforementioned tour, which begins April 12. We’ve included a full-sized “I’m With CoCo” image below in case you missed it when it was everywhere.
Tags: conan o’brien, facebook, i’m with coco, team coco, television, tv, twitpic
