

In the wake of his engagingly animated and darkly funny retellings of the story of his rescue of Amanda Berry, Ramsey has emerged as a microcelebrity, the sole bright spot in what's otherwise an unrelentingly horrifying case. (America's collective fascination with working-class black people giving interviews on local television doesn't hurt.)

Unfortunately, Ramsey's newfound meme-status kind of overwhelms the fact that the guy rescued three women from their kidnapper. Relatively new to the neighborhood, friendly with his neighbor, he nonetheless refused to keep his head down and ignore what he admits he thought was a domestic dispute. In the aftermath, he acted quickly and decisively—having one victim, Amanda Berry, make a simultaneous 911 call, and castigating the emergency operator for insufficient quickness and understanding. ("She need an ambulance, or what? She needs everything. [...] she’s been kidnapped, so you know, put yourself in her shoes," he told the operator, whom he describes to Cooper as a "moron.")

But he tells Cooper he doesn't think of himself as a hero:




Here's hoping Ramsey is willing to take some reward that isn't just his voice getting AutoTuned by bored kids at home. You can read a transcript of hist interview here.