Do we like Bilal Göregen?
Our score: 6 out of 10. Nothing harmful and a gentle public story, but the coverage is mostly from 2020, so there is too little to score higher.
Bilal Göregen is a Turkish street musician from Dörtyol in Hatay province. He finished primary school at home, did high school in Kahramanmaraş, then studied Turkish Language and Literature at Istanbul University. He plays the darbuka (a goblet drum) and the bağlama, and imitates instruments with his voice.
Turkey first noticed him in 2010, when he reached the final of the talent show Yetenek Sizsiniz and came second. Then in 2020 a clip of him playing the Finnish tune Ievan Polkka on an Istanbul park bench was paired with a bobbing cartoon cat. The meme exploded worldwide, and YouTube itself posted about it in December 2020.
The harm check came up clean. We found no reporting of him attacking any group, pushing conspiracy theories or campaigning against anyone's rights. He told Hürriyet Daily News that democracy, freedom and equality are values every human being should defend.
Fame brought some surreal moments. When Biden won the 2020 US election, internet users edited a dancing Trump into the cat video. Göregen said he'd like to play the darbuka for Biden, and he later met Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. Where you land on that depends on whether you read it as a busker enjoying his moment or as politicians riding a viral clip, and nothing suggests he did anything but play.
We found no court cases, allegations or complaints about him, and no recent news either. Nothing new on him lately, and honestly that is the whole list. Coverage is mostly from the 2020 viral wave, so a lean toward yes comes with that caveat.