© 2026 ABC News

Jordan told \"The View\" co-hosts on Friday that he wanted to help make people laugh and smile during the coronavirus pandemic.

\"PHOTO:
ABC
PHOTO: Leslie Jordan joins "The View" via satellite, April 17, 2020.
>

\"Because we're locked down, hunkered down here, I just didn't have anything to do,\" Jordan said. \"I thought well, I can't go out and be an emergency services person I gotta do my part and what do I do? The only thing I know how to do is be funny – that's it.\"

After posting a few videos about how he's spending his time \"hunkered down,\" he shared a story about how friends tried to let him know he was \"going viral.\"

\"I said, 'No honey I'm fine. I'm at home. I'm in Tennessee,'\" Jordan said on \"The View\" about his response to the news of going viral. \"I looked and I had three million followers – three million!\"

\"PHOTO:
ABC
PHOTO: Leslie Jordan discusses his new-found Insta-fame with "The View" co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Meghan McCain, April 17, 2020.
>

Despite his large following, Jordan didn't know what Instagram was a year ago. With the help of some friends from \"The Cool Kids\" show, he joined the social media platform in September, 2018.

\"I had 20,000 followers and I treasured that,\" Jordan said of his initial following on Instagram. \"People'd say, 'Oh that's nothing.' I said, 'What are you crazy? That's 20,000 people that wanna hear what I gotta say!'\"

One year later, his \"Will & Grace\" co-star Megan Mullally shared one of Jordan's posts on her own page that increased his following to 80,000. \"I woke up with 80,000 and it stayed that way,\" Jordan said.

Every episode of ABC's award-winning talk show \"The View\" is now available as a podcast! Listen and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Spotify, Stitcher or the ABC News app.

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