About

“Me, Also Me” refers to the snowclone template “Me: X Also me: Y.” In the template, “X” represents something laudatory about one’s self, while “Y” contradicts “X.” This meme is similar to Evil Kermit.

Origin

The earliest known iteration appeared on March 29th, 2015, Twitter user @katsukiyuuris^[1] tweeted “me: ITS SO HOTTODAYWTFUCK IM GOING TO MELT I AM DYINGLORDSAVE ME also me: (JUGSDOWN A 2 CUPS OF FRESHLYMADEHOTBLACKCOFFEE)”

Spread

On March 26th, 2016 Twitter user @ayeeekendrick^[2] tweeted an image of two men in an office with the subtitle “Move, I’m gay” under the caption “me: being gay doesn’t define me also me:” The tweet received more than 5,400 retweets and 8,100 likes.

On July 26th, BuzzFeed featured the popular “Me, Also Me” meme in a listicle entitled “22 Tweets That Will Make You Say ‘Also Me.’”^[6]

I’m Not Dramatic

One of the most popular uses of “Me, Also Me” is “Me: I’m Not Dramatic.”“I’m Not Dramatic” follows the same structure as “Me, Also Me,” except the “Me” field is always filled with “I’m not dramatic.”

The earilest known instance of this use is from Twitter user @madycondie^[3], who tweeted “me: I’m not dramatic also me: okay my eye hurts I may be going blind” on November 15th, 2015.

On August, 9th 2016, Twitter user @basedlightskin^[4] Tweeted a series of images under the caption “Me: I’m not dramatic Also me:,” which received more than 60 retweets and 128 likes (shown below).

On September 5th, Twitter user @Y2SHAF^[5] tweeted a video under the caption “me: i’m not dramatic??? also me:” The tweet received more than 10,400 retweets and 12,300 likes.

On April 3rd, 2017, Twitter user @garyfromteenmom posted a version of “I’m not dramatic” that went viral, receiving more than 14,000 retweets and 32,000 likes.

Shortly after, on April 5th, Twitter published a moment on “I’m Not Dramatic.”^[8]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Mastodon is an open-source social network similar to Twitter created in response to unpopular updates to the latter. Key differences between Mastodon and Twitter include that the former uses a 500 character limit as oppose to Twitter’s 140, Mastodon does not run ads, and there are granular, per-post privacy settings.

History

Mastodon^[4] was developed by Eugen Rochko in response to recent unpopular Twitter updates, such as an algorithm-driven timeline as opposed to a chronological one.^[1] Rochko named the app “Mastodon” after the metal band of the same name and announced its launch in October of 2016 on Hacker News. Although very similar in visual style to Twitter, the site allows a 500 character limit and its posts are called “toots” instead of "tweets. It also makes hate-speech related to Naziism a bannable offense, which has long been a common complaint for Twitter. Mastodon acquired 24,000 users in its first 6 months of use.

Features of Mastodon

Developments

After the unpopular Twitter Replies update which made it such that usernames no longer counted against Twitter’s character limit, Mastodon experienced a spike in new users, causing them to block new users from joining as of Tuesday, April 4th until they can guarantee a good user experience. Around this time, it began generating media attention in the tech world, gaining coverage from Vice’s Motherboard,^[2] The Verge, and Select All.^[3] Select All in particular marveled at how so far, Mastodon had not been invaded by Nazi trolls, though it did not seem optimistic it would stat that way.^[5] Furthermore, The Verge reminded its readers of sites such as Ello that attempted to serve a similar function to Mastodon, but failed, suggesting that Mastodon may be bound for the same fate.

Search Interest

External References

About

Party Parrot is an emote used on the messaging and collaboration application Slack, featuring a multi-colored, animated depiction of Sirocco the kakapo parrot who was famously filmed mating with zoologist Mark Carwardine’s head during an episode of the BBC nature documentary series Last Chance to See.

Origin

On September 29th, 2009, the BBC YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “Shagged by a Rare Parrot,” containing footage of a rare kakapo parrot vigorously humping the head of zoologist Mark Carwardine while Last Chance to See host Stephen Fry laughs off camera (shown below). Within eight years, the video gained over 7.2 million views and 4,100 comments.

“I’m sorry, one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. You are being shagged by a rare parrot. He thinks you are a female. He’s really going for it. Wow. Actually, you’re in pain, aren’t you?”

In January 2016, the CultofthePartyParrot^[2] website was launched, providing various Party Parrot emojis to download for Slack (shown below).

Spread

On June 8th, 2016, the /r/PartyParrot^[1] subreddit was launched for discussions related to the Slack emote and BBC video. On July 19th, the Universal Party Parrot Chrome extension was released, enabling Party Parrot tags across all subreddits.^[5] On November 10th, Party Parrot emoji keyboards were released on iTunes^[6] and the Google Play^[4] app stores (shown below, left). In February 2017, a Party Parrot-themed 2048 game was created on the site 2048 Online^[7] (shown below, right).

In early April, Minecraft added parrots to the game that flash different colors and dance when placed next to a music box. On April 3rd, Redditor onnuwhere submitted an animated GIF of the new parrots titled “Sirocco the Party Parrot” (shown below). Within 72 hours, the post gained over 1,800 votes (95% upvoted) and 80 comments on /r/Minecraft.^[3]

Search Interest

External References

About

“Your Name Game” refers to the conversation game, played either online or in person, in which a set of arbitrary facts or opinions about the player generates a new nickname. Popular examples include “Your Porno Name” (combine your middle name and the street you grew up on) and “Your NPR Name.”

Origin

Online, the Your Name Game relates to Character Name Generators, the first of which launched on April 1st, 1983.

On February 1st, 1995, the website Name Nerds published a list of “Your (fill in the blank) name” games.^[3]

On April 13th, 2009, blogger Liana Maybe laughed Your NPR Name.

On March 31st, 2017, Twitter user @MissAHaddow tweeted a picture of the restaurant Firedog along with the caption “Find your hipster pop-up restaurant name by taking the way you’d least like to die, followed by the meat you’d like to try least.” The tweet received more than 2,900 retweets and 8,900 likes.^[1]

Spread

The post inspired a host of new Name Games, where the creation of a new Name Game became the object of the game. Within several days of @MissAHaddow’s tweet, others began creating their own Your Name Games. On April 6th, Twitter published a moment, documenting the new versions of the game.^[2]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

[WIP}

About

What’s Wrong? Nothing refers to a series of photoshops that appear as a text message conversation. One person asks the other “what’s wrong?” and the other types a long response having to do with a trivial matter, which is then deleted and replaced with “Nothing.” Other variations have the long response show up as a possible autocorrect option to the word “Nothing.” The joke works in a similar way to the What She Says / What She Means Tumblr meme.

Precursor

What She Says, What She Means is a series of posts on Tumblr which juxtapose the phrase “I’m fine” with a humorous translation describing the statement’s implicit meaning. The posts are often used to make joke confessions regarding a specific fandom.

Origin

The earliest known post to utilize the format came on May 6th, 2016, in a Tweet by @Dory^[1] with a reference to Shrek. While this is likely not the first time this tweet was posted online, it is one of the most popular early examples, gaining over 18,000 retweets (shown below).

Spread

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

“Looks at the Camera Like I’m on The Office” refers to a running joke on the comedic television series The Office in which characters would look directly in the camera to emphasize their emotions to the audience. Online, people use it as a reaction to a statement that surprises, confuses, or offends them.

Origin

“Looks at the camera like I’m on The Office” is related to characters breaking the fourth wall. This specific example relates to the moments on The Office when characters would become so surprised at the absurd actions they would look at the camera as if to ask the audience “Are you seeing this?”

The Office UK premiered on July 9th, 2001, and The Office US premiered on March 24th, 2005.^[1][2]

In most cases, looks at the camera like I’m on The Office refers to the America version as it is sometimes referred to as “The Jim Halpert Look,” after the American version character Jim Halpert (John Krasinski).

Spread

On June 20th, 2010, Urban Dictionary defined "The Jim Look":[3]

The classic look that Jim on the TV show “The Office” gives the camera. It is usually seen when Michael does something ridiculous; or after a successful prank on Dwight; sometimes in look of desperation of normalcy.

Dwight: Who put my stapler in jello?!

Jim: (gives the camera The Jim Look)

On June 2nd, 2014 tumblr user harmonyrow^[5] posted an image of John Lennon with the caption “john lennon: looks at the camera like hes in the office.” The post received more than 360 notes.

On June 14th, 2014, the website The Office Stare Machine launched.^[4] The website chronicles all 706. According to the site:

“The Office Stare Machine showcases every single time a character speechlessly breaks the 4th wall and stares at the camera. It then indexes those stares into an interactive machine encompassing the full range of human emotional expression.”

External References

^[1]Wikipedia – The Office

^[2]IMDb – The Office

^[3]Urban Dictionary – The Jim Look

^[4]Website – The Office Stare Machine

^[5]Tumblr – harmony row’s post

About

Wee-Bey’s Reaction, also known as You Don’t Say, refers to image macros and animated GIFs of the character Wee-Bey Brice from the HBO drama series The Wire appearing incredulous after discovering a woman is a police officer.

Origin

In Season 1 Episode 11 of The Wire titled “The Hunt,”^[5] originally aired on August 18th, 2002, the character Roland “Wee-Bey” Brice acts incredulous after being told that a woman was an undercover police officer (shown below).

Spread

On February 24th, 2010, BodyBuilding Forums^[4] member poolshark472 submitted a post requesting “the GIF of Wee-Bey from the Wire.”

On January 5th, 2011, IGN Forums^[3] member Dev1359 submitted a post asking about the GIF.

On August 10th, 2012, a GIF of Wee-Bey’s reaction in the scene was submitted to the /r/funny^[2] subreddit, which subsequently gained over 944,000 views and 980 points on Imgur over the next five years.^[1]

On July 20th, 2015, Imgur user levieuxquicrisesarace submitted the GIF in a post titled “So you tell me a vanilla ice cream cone is twice the price of a chocolate one?” (shown below).

Search Interest

External References

Stonetroid is a disaster in Survive The Disasters 2 (STD2).

Memo

Stonetroid, the rock giant! Stonetroid will attack an anonymous survivor unpredictably. The further you are away from it, the bigger the explosion gets as it trails off. Its aim is quite slow, you can outrun where it’s targeting.

Description

Stonetroid is a giant enemy that can’t be killed that looks like a more op version of the Overseer Soldiers. It targets a random survivor before rotating about a certain fixed angle, and creates a line of explosions in front of it. It doesn’t matter if your up close and personal with it, since it’s targeting system is randomized. A quick, precisely-timed will allow the player to dodge the Stonetroid’s explosions.

As of 3/7/17, Stonetroid was nerfed to make it’s attack speed slower then it used to.

The Reaction is look like a “When you get more homework or (very bad)”

About

Nivea “White is Purity” refers to a social media post made by the skin-care manufacturer Nivea, which contains the phrase “White is Purity.” The advertisement came under criticism with many social media users calling the post racially insensitive.

Background

On March 31st, 2017, Nivea posted an advertisement for deodorant to Nivea’s Middle East Facebook page.^[1] The ad contained the caption “Keep it clean, keep it bright. Don’t let anything ruin it. #Invisible” and the tag line “White is Purity” (shown below). It quickly became the subject of controversy.

Developments

On April 4th, Twitter user @ScottProfessor tweeted about the ad, writing “Come on #Nivea. This is so racist that I do not even know where to begin.😠 Speechless. In future, refer to clothes or products, not colors.” The tweet received more than 530 retweets and 1,000 likes.

The controversy began only several hours after Kendall Jenner Pepsi Ad, which also drew criticism for similar reasons. This lead some to draw comparisons between the two commercials. One tweet by @4evrmalone,^[2] shown below, said “Pepsi: We’ve done it. We’ve created the most tone-deaf ad of the week. Maybe the year! Nivea: Hold my beer.” The tweet received more than 17,100 retweets and 28,800 likes. Another tweet by @OldBlackHack, said "This week in advertising. Probably time for me to kick start my “Ask a Black Person” consulting firm. #Pepsi #Nivea." The post received more than 300 retweets and 630 likes.

Others pointed to another infamous Nivea ad, which was also criticized for racial insensitivity. In 2011, people denounced Nivea’s “Re-Cilivize” Nivea for Men ad, accusing the company of racism. The company subsequently apologized for the ad on Facebook.^[7] Twitter user @MarwaBalkar tweeted the ad (shown below), with the caption, “After seeing @niveauk ‘white is purity’ ad, I immediately remembered this: ’RE-CIVILIZEYOURSELF” by Nivea Nivea, hire some POC ya?" The tweet received more than 620 retweets and 1,200 likes.

Many major media outlets covered the controversy, including Fortune^[9], The New York Times^[10], and more.

Ad Removal

Shortly after the outcry began, Nivea removed the “White is Purity” ad Furthermore, Nivea’s parent company, Beiersdorf Global AG, issued an apology in a statement to The Washington Post,^[6] saying:

“That image was inappropriate and not reflective of our values as a company. We deeply apologize for that and have removed the post,” the statement read. “Diversity and inclusivity are crucial values of NIVEA. We take pride in creating products that promote beauty in all forms. Discrimination of any kind is simply not acceptable to us as a company, as employees, or as individuals.”

Nivea also responded on Twitter^[8] with the following post:

Search Interest

External References

About

Wenger Out refers to a movement among Arsenal Football Club fans asking the team to not give a new contract to their longtime manager Arsène Wenger. The movement has manifested in protest signs reading “Wenger Out” appearing in unexpected places across the globe, which in turn led to famous photographs being photoshopped to include a person holding a “Wenger Out” sign.

Origin

Arsène Wenger has managed Arsenal Football Club since 1996.^[1] He had tremendous success in the mid-2000s, leading the club to an undefeated league season in 2004. However, between 2006 and 2014, Arsenal did not win a trophy. In the 2014-2015 season, the team began to perform better, finishing fourth in the Premier League. They then finished runners up in the 2015-2016 season. With championship hopes high heading into the 2016-2017 season, Arsenal started strongly, but lost important matches midway through the year, resulting in their championship hopes being jeopardized. Wenger also received a four-game suspension in this time for pushing a referee.

Even when the team was performing well in the mid-2010s, some supporters still wanted Wenger sacked from the club.^[2] However, with Arsenal’s disappointing 2016-2017 season, fans grew more united in wanting Wenger gone as manager. One of the catalysts for the #WengerOut movement was Arsenal’s 5-1 loss to Bayern Munich on February 15th, 2017.^[3]

Spread

On February 20th, a sign reading “Wenger Out” appeared at a UK protest of U.S. President Donald Trump visiting London,^[4] starting the trend of “Wenger Out” signs appearing in unexpected places.

Over the following months, more signs reading “Wenger Out” appeared in unexpected places across the globe. Some of the more notable places include WWE’s Wrestlemania 33 pre-show and the following night’s Monday Night Raw.

The prevalence of real-life examples of the sign popping up in unexpected place led to photographs photoshopped to include a protestor holding the sign. One such image circulated on Twitter during the Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi Ad controversy (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

Overview

The Khan Shaykhun Bombing refers to an airstrike against the town Khan Shaykhun in Syria, during which a toxic gas killed 74 people and injured an additional 557. Following the attack, United States President Donald Trump issued a strike against the Syrian Shayrat Air Base in retaliation.

Background

On April 4th, 2017, Khan Shaykhun, a town controlled by the Jihadist rebel group Tahrir al-Sham was struck by a heavy airstrike carried out by the Syrian government. Shortly after, a toxic gas was released in the area, which killed upwards of 74 people and injured more than 557, according to reports by the Idlib health authority.^[2] On April 5th, the Al Jazeera English Facebook^[5] page posted graphic footage following the aftermath of the attack, which gathered upwards of 12 million views and 13,000 comments within 48 hours.

Developments

Russian and Syrian Government Response

Following the attack, the Russian government claimed that the release of the gas was due to the airstrike hitting a chemical weapons factory, and that it was not part of the payload itself. Additionally, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem claimed that the Syrian armed forces “did not and will not” use chemical weapons:

“I stress to you once again: the Syrian army has not, did not and will not use this kind of weapons – not just against our own people, but even against the terrorists that attack our civilians with their mortar rounds.”^[4]

Meanwhile, former British Army colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon contradicted the claims, arguing that “if you blow up sarin you destroy it.” However, a UN official who led an operation to remove Syria’s chemical weapons claimed that if sarin gas had been stored in a location that was bombed, there was “every possibility” that “Sarin liquid was ejected and could well have affected the population.”

False Flag Speculation

Following the bombing, some began speculating that the release of the sarin gas was a false flag attack carried out by other groups to frame the Syrian government, including former Texas congressman Ron Paul (shown below).

Shayrat Missile Strike

On the evening of April 6th, 2017, United States President Donald Trump ordered the launch of 59 Tomahwak cruise missiles at the Shayrat Air Base in Homs Governorate, Syria, which was suspected of being the aircraft base that carried out the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack. According to a White House official, upwards of 24 members of Congress were briefed prior to the airstrike. Following the airstrike, the Syrian state media referred to the bombing as an “act of aggression” and a spokesperson for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad condemned it as “unjust,” “arrogant” and “outrageous.”

Online Reaction

Shortly after the Sharyrat airstrike, Twitter user @mrfeelswildride^[1] tweeted a picture of Hillary Clinton along with the caption “when the dev says there are multiple endings but they’re really all the same” (shown below). Meanwhile, a post about the conflict was stickied on /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[11]

Additionally, various memes joking about the incident reached the front page of /r/dankmemes (shown below).^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

Search Interest

External References

About

Donald Trump’s Rogue One Air Force One Photo refers to a photograph of President Donald Trump talking to reporters as the 2016 filmRogue One: A Star Wars Story played behind him.

Origin

On April 6th, 2017, President Donald Trump took questions from reporters aboard Air Force One. According to reports,^[1] before the President entered the press cabin, reporters who had been watching the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. As Trump entered and began answering questions, the film continued to play in the background.

Spread

That day, Twitter user @alex_mallin^[2] tweeted an image of Trump talking in front of the TV playing Rogue One with the caption: “Reporters forgot to turn off Star Wars: Rogue One before @POTUS came back to visit the press cabin.” The tweet received more than 1,320 retweets and 3,000 likes.

Another tweet from @GideonResnick^[3] (shown below), which said, “crazy shot on air force one from reuters,” received more than 1,900 retweet and 4,200 likes.

Shortly after the tweets were published, users began photoshopping the picture on Twitter.

Several outlets covered the photograph, including Mashable, The New York Daily News^[5], Gizmodo^[6],

External References

About

Millions of Dead Posers is a Weird Facebook page devoted to mocking critically-acclaimed punk, metal, and indie-rock acts and their fans via image macros that employ Word Art-like fonts popular among Weird Facebook sites.

Origin

Millions of Dead Posers^[1] launched on October 27th, 2016. Their first post mocked metal band The Sword by depicting a fan getting dunked in a toilet by a group of bullies (shown below).

Spread

The page was instantly successful. On November 8th, blog toilettovhell^[2] published a post about the success of the page, which had racked up 17,000 followers in its first week of existence. On December 9th, blog electronicbeats^[3] called the site one of the ten best music memes of the year.

While the page is known for hitting popular targets in music for their jokes, it also maintains a strong ironic fandom for groups like 311 and Los Lonely Boys. As of April 7th, 2017, the page has over 97,000 likes.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

State Fights (also known as State Controversy) are a type of U.S. state war between flags of places cities and towns.
State Controversy lead to the coining of the phrase State Wars. The Flags of states also lead to the creation of animated GIFs and image macros depicting fights of controversy. These debates are characterized as being lead by people and often Company Rivals and Brand Wars debates.

About

Awkward Family Photos is a single topic blog featuring cringe-worthy, bizarre and disturbing portraits, vacation pictures and other photographs of various families.

History

In May 2009, Awkward Family Photosp^[1] was launched by creators Doug Chernack and Mike Bender and Bender discovered an awkward skiing vacation photo at his parents’ house (shown below). Over the years, the site has been widely discussed online and in news media, including various talk shows and episodes of Nerdist.^[2]

Books

Several Awkward Family Photos books have been released, including Awkward Family Photos (2009), Awkward Family Pet Photos (2011), Awkward Family Holiday Photos (2013) and Everything Is Awkward (2016).

Board Game

A board game based on the blog features cards with photographs from the site along with questions players must answer correctly to accumulate a higher score.

Podcast

In March 2017, The Awkward Family Podcast was launched on iTunes,^[9] during which hosts SuChin Pak and Mike Bender interview people photographed in notable pictures highlighted on the blog.

Social Media Presence

On May 5th, 2009, the Awkward Family Photos Facebook^[7] page was created, which gathered upwards of 2.8 million likes over the next eight years. That month, the @awkwardfamilyphotos^[10] Twitter feed was launched. An official Instagram^[8] page for the site has accumulated more than 248,000 followers as of April 2017.

Related Memes

PTSD Clarinet Boy

PTSD Clarinet Boy is an advice animal image macro series based on a double exposure portrait of a redheaded boy dressed in a school band uniform holding a clarinet. A full-body image of the uniformed boy gazing out is superimposed on to the back of his head. The captions typically emulate the first-person accounts of a war veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, interpreting the dual images of the boy as him mulling over the past. On July 17th, 2009, the original photograph was highlight on Awkward Family Photos.^[4]

Vengeance Dad

Vengeance Dad is an image macro series based on a digitally composited family photograph of a balding father on the right side and presumably the mother and two children on the left side. In similar style to PTSD Clarinet Kid, Vengeance Dad images are captioned with first-person style confessions as if he is recounting a terrible event that happened to his family to his own fault or intent. On June 18th, 2010, the original source photograph was featured on Awkward Family Photos.^[3]

Search Interest

External References

About

“Ornithoscelida” refers to a newly proposed grouping of Dinosaurs. Published in March 2017, the paper by Baron et al. (A new hypothesis of dinosaur relationships and early dinosaur evolution) hypothesizes that the long standing existing phylogeny for for Dinosauria is incorrect.

Origin

In 1888, Harry Seeley split up the Group Dinosaura into two smaller groups; Saurischia and Ornithischia (colloquially known as Lizard-hipped and Bird-hipped respectively). This division has been considered the correct version for over 120 years.

The paper “A new hypothesis of dinosaur relationships and early dinosaur evolution” (Baron et al.)^[1] suggests that the two groups in Saurischia are not closely related, and proposes that Theropoda be merged with Ornithischia to form Ornithoscelida, while Sauropodomorpha and Herrerasauridae remain in Saurischia.

Spread

The paper was first published in the Scientific Journal Nature Mach 22rd 2017. The same day, the website for Scientific American blog Tetrapod Zoology by Darren Naish made blog post talking about the paper.^[3]

Several online paleontology communities discussed the implications of what the Baron et al. paper could mean if the hypothesis was found to be correct.^[4][5]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

“T H E B A T H” written in capital letters with a space between each letter and a double space between each word, is a catchphrase often spammed in YouTube comments by Gorrilaz fans.

Origin

On the 23th of March 2017 the band Gorillaz uploaded a 360 video called “Gorillaz – Saturnz Barz (Spirit House) 360” to YouTube to promote their new album “Humanz”.

In the video the animated band members explore a haunted house. One minute and fifty seconds in the character Murdoc Niccals voiced by Phil Cornwell discovers the bathroom and says the line.

“The bath! Hey you guys, I’m just going to take a bath.”

Spread

The quote quickly catched on with fans who spammed “T H E B A T H” in the YouTube comment section, and created video parodies out of it.

Comment Examples

Video Examples

(THISENTRY IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.)

About

A.I.Channel is a YouTube channel hosted by Ai Kizuna, a “Virtual YouTuber” created using MMD. Her content primarily consists of Let’s Plays and vlogging.

Online History

On November 29, 2016, A.I.Channel uploaded her first video featuring her creation of a Twitter account. (Below)

Although her channel slowly gained popularity, it was not until when her playthrough of Inside was shared on the anime-focused Facebook page IGON that her popularity began to see a significant upturn.

Further coverage and promotion by sites such as Tubefilter,^[5] The Verge,^[6] and GoBoiano^[7] in late March 2017 further contributed to A.I.Channel’s increasing popularity. As of April 7, 2017, the channel had over 300,000 subscribers.

Search Interest

External References

^[1]YouTube – A.I.Channel

^[2]Official Website

^[3]Twitter

^[4]MMD Wiki – Kizuna AI

^[5]Tubefilter – A.I. Kizuna Is A Virtual YouTube Star And She Has Nearly 200,000 Subscribers– March 21, 2017

^[6]The Verge – Animated vloggers could be the future of YouTube– March 21, 2017

^[7]GoBoiano – Rising YouTube Star is a Virtual Anime School Girl– March 24, 2017

Overview

X-Men Gold Controversy refers to an online backlash regarding of a controversial message put by Indonesian comic book artist, Ardian Syaf in the first issue of X-Men Gold. This controversy was widely discussed online in various site^[1][2] and Marvel Subreddit.^[3][4][5]

Background

On April 5, 2017, Marvel released the first issue of X-Men Gold written by Marc Guggenheim and drawn by Ardian Syaf. The message inside the comic was, “212”, which refers to recent protest in Indonesia regarding the accusation of blasphemy against Islam commited by Jakarta’s governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, or Ahok.^[8]

There is also “QS 5:51”, that refers to a verse in Al-Quran, Al Maidah 5: 51, which translated to english as; “O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are, in fact, allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you – then indeed, he is one of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.”(shown below).

This refers to a great controversy in Indonesia after Ahok referred to the said verse in the Qur’an while campaigning and said that people should not believe Islamic leaders who claim it forbids Muslims from being led by non-Muslims. He has since repeatedly apologised for his statements, but it hasn’t stemmed the protest.^[1]

Developments

Online Reaction

On 8 April, 2017, Bleedingcool published an article titled “Marvel Artist Ardian Syaf Hid Anti-Christian And Jewish Messages In This Week’s X-Men Comic”.^[1] After that, various thread was created on Marvel subreddit^[3][4][5], Indonesian Subreddit^[6], and 9GAG^[7], criticizing Syaf’s decision to put the message in the comic. Several pop culture site and news site were also published articles about the controversy, including Jakarta Post^[2], Comicbook^[9], Io9^[10], and The Mary Sue.^[11]

Marvel’s Official Statement

On April 9, 2017, Twitter user @XavierFiles was tweeting Marvel’s official statement regarding the controversy^[12]. (Shown below)

The news was immediately picked up by various sites. ^{[9][10][11][13]} Syaf was also immediately issued an apology through his Facebook post which was subsequently removed. (Shown below)

Search Interest

External Reference