ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — What millions have seen around the world is all just a blur of patchy memories to Daniel Taylor.

He is the man in a viral video from January, when he got into a physical confrontation with a McDonald's employee over a straw.

Asked Wednesday his takeaway when looking back at the incident, he laughed and said "I was a drunken idiot."

The incident happened December 31 at the restaurant located at 4595 34th Street South. The video itself went viral a few days later.

Taylor said he had been celebrating his 40th birthday all day and all night at the resort next door when he wanted to get some food.

He remembers placing his order, then going to fill his drink and a grab a straw, but he couldn't find any.

"From the story and everybody telling me, is I was asking for a straw, and I just remember requesting something and she looked at me and she was like, 'No, not for somebody like you' … or 'Not for you.' I know she made it personal," Taylor said.

Witnesses say things got heated quickly. That's when another customer pulled out her phone and started recording as Taylor grabbed the worker, who fought back.

"I don't remember much after that, I would say probably because of the alcohol," he said. "I remember her hitting me repeatedly in the head. And of course the whole time I was thinking, 'That doesn't hurt. That doesn't hurt. That doesn't hurt.'"

Taylor said he did not remember grabbing the woman, Yasmine James.

Workers had to forcibly remove him from the business, and police later arrested him on two counts of simple battery.

He served 56 days in jail. It was a crime that has been recorded for all time, but remains a blank moment in time for him.

"No, and I don't want to either," he said when asked if he had watched the video, adding it was "mostly from shear embarrassment."