Overview

#TakeAKnee refers to a hashtag used regarding United States President Donald Trump’s comments about controversial San Fransisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who infamously does not stand for the American National Anthem as a means of protest against racial inequality and police brutality. During a speech made in Alabama, Trump called Kaepernick a “son of a bitch” who should be “fired.” Many NFL officials, players and fans rallied around Kaepernick by issuing statements about the President’s comments and engaging in protest during games by taking a knee and/or locking arms during the national anthem, while others refused to leave the locker room during the song. Supporters of the president, however, said they would boycott the NFL over the controversy.

Backgound

On September 22nd, 2017, President Donald Trump delivered a speech in Huntsville, Alabama in support of Senator Luther Strange. During his speech, Trump made several comments in reference to San Fransisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, calling anyone who disrespects the American flag a “son of a bitch” who should be “fired.”^[1]

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag," said Trump, “to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. He’s fired. He’s fired!’”

Developments

Public Reaction

That evening, Colin Kaepernick’s mother responded to a tweet about Trump’s comments on Twitter] “Guess that makes me a proud bitch!” she tweeted. The post (shown below) received more than 56,000 retweets and 180,000 likes in three days.

NFL Response

On the morning of September 23rd, DeMaurice Smith, the Executive Director of the NFL Players Association, posted a response in support of Kaepernick on Twitter. “We will never back down. We no longer can afford to stick to sports,” he captioned the post.

That day, NFL Commissioner responded as well in a statement.^[7] He said:

“The NFL and our players are at our best when we help create a sense of unity in our country and our culture. There is no better example than the amazing response from our clubs and players to the terrible natural disasters we’ve experienced over the last month. Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities.”

Additionally, the owner of the New England Patriots Robert Kraft,^[8] who is friends with Donald Trump, made a statement as well.

“I am deeply disappointed by the tone of the comments made by the president on Friday,” he said. “I am proud to be associated with so many players who make such tremendous contributions in positively impacting our communities. Their efforts, both on and off the field, help bring people together and make our community stronger.”

Media Coverage

Shortly after the speech, virtually all the news media began reporting on the president’s comments, including The Washington Post,^[2] Sports Illustrated,^[3]CBS,^[4] The New York Times^[6] and more.

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About

Monkey Haircut is a photoshop meme featuring a photograph of a macaque monkey receiving a haircut, which is superimposed into a variety of other base images.

Origin

On February 17th, 2017, YouTuber Spyder Black uploaded a video of a young macaque monkey receiving a haircut at a salon (shown below).

Spread

On September 24th, 2017, the Meme Supreme Facebook^[2] page posted a Pills That Make You Stare variation featuring the screen capture of a monkey getting a haircut (shown below).

Meanwhile, Redditor Shaponja submitted a post asking if the photoshop meme was “on the rise” to /r/MemeEconomy.^[1]

Search Interest

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About

Simple Rick’s Fondest Memories is a series of exploitable images based on a moment from the animated comedy series Rick and Morty in which the character of Simple Rick remembers his fondest memories, which is displayed on the helmet he is wearing. Online, people photoshopped the image on Rick’s helmet to reflect their own opinions and preferences.

Origin

On September 10th, 2017, Cartoon Network aired the seventh episode of season three of Rick and Morty, “The Ricklantis Mixup.”^[1] In the episode, the titular characters visit the city of Atlantis, home to the Citadel of Ricks.^[2] One scene in the episode features a commercial for a cookie made from the tears of a character named Simple Rick. As his fondest memories play in his mind to make him cry, the helmet plays the memory on a screen at the forehead (shown below). This is the basis for the meme.

Two days later, on September 12th, on the /r/RickAndMorty subreddit, Redditor^[3] kkalashnikobe posted an image from the episode in which Simple Rick can be seen with his eyes closed thinking the character Noob-Noob.^[4] The post (shown below) received more than 7,400 points (97% upvoted) and 80 comments.

Spread

The following day, Redditor^[5] Capgunkid posted a gif based on kkalahnikobe’s image, receiving more than 490 points (8% upvoted). When posted to Imgur, the gif received more than 129,000 views.

That day, Redditor^[6] posted another gif of Simple Rick featuring another clip from the show.

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About

Dan Dancer Can Cancer is an exploitable four-panel image macro series using word association to execute the punchline in the final panel, identifying a subject as cancerous.

Origin

On September 23rd, 2017, the Being Libertarian Facebook^[1] page posted a four-panel image macro featuring football quarterback Dan Marino, a ballet dancer, an aluminum can and the hammer and sickle communist symbol (shown below). Within 48 hours, the post gathered upwards of 1,700 reactions.

Spread

The following day, Redditor RezorTEclipez reposted the image to /r/MemeEconomy,^[2] where it gathered upwards of 15,500 points (68% upvoted) and 630 comments in 24 hours.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

This Is My Body refers to a copypasta meme popular on Twitter made in parody of a tweet by former reality television personality and writer/blogger Austin Armacost that reads “This is my body. No 6 pack, no bulging biceps, & a little chubby BUT I LOVE my body. Don’t like it, unfollow #FuckTheHaters 👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼 #Happy.” After the tweet, Twitter users posted various humorous pictures with Armacost’s text, making the meme similar to Twitter memes such as This Is The Ideal Male Body and Before the Liberals Find a Reason to Deface This Statue.

Origin

On September 20th, Austin Armacost tweeted a picture of himself with the caption “This is my body. No 6 pack, no bulging biceps, & a little chubby BUT I LOVE my body. Don’t like it, unfollow #FuckTheHaters 👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼 #Happy”.^[1] The tweet gained over 380 retweets and 5,200 likes (shown below).

Spread

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References

About

The Titular Line refers to a series of joke, memes and sketches regarding someone ironically and lazily delivering the title line of a movie.

Origin

While jokes regarding the titular lines have existed since before the internet, one of the earliest distillations of this as a specific joke occured on the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy televisions series. On September 23rd, 1998, Comedy Central aired the fifth episode, entitled “Poo Stick.”^[1] In the episode, there’s a sketch in which a man attempts to convince a video store clerk that he had the titular lines in both Star Wars and Out of Africa, two films that do not have title lines in them (shown below).

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About

Neo Yokio is an American-Japanese anime television series created by Vampire Weekend lead singer Ezra Koenig and released on Netflix in late September 2017. The show features protagonist Kaz Kaan (voiced by Jaden Smith), a wealthy exorcist who tries to live a normal life away from his demon-slaying past.

History

On September 7th, 2017, Netflix released the official Neo Yokio trailer as a Netflix Original Series (shown below). On September 22nd, the first six episodes premiered on Netflix.

Reception

On September 23rd, 2017, YouTuber Wild Leap uploaded a montage of scenes from the film titled “Terrible Scenes from Neo Yokio” (shown below, left). Meanwhile, Redditor Sono-Chi-No-Sadame submitted a post titled “Neo Yokio is a nightmare that I can’t look away from” to /r/Fantasy.^[1] The following day, YouTuber The Rpg Monger uploaded a review of the series titled “Netflix’s Neo Yokio Is The Perfect Disaster,” which criticized the show for being confusing and unpolished (shown below, right).

Search Interest

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Domesticated Clowns refers to a series of posts on Tumblr which role play as pet care blogs offering advice on how to take care of “pet clowns” as though clowns were an exotic animal.

Origin

While the origin of these types of posts is murky, Meme Documentation^[1] points out that while jokes about clowns have a long history and there are several potential precursors to the meme, a post by kouha^[2] on July 29th, 2017 which includes the phrase “mimes are to clowns as dogs are to wolves” inspired the trend of the Domesticated Clown posts (shown below). The post gained over 73,000 notes.

Spread

In reblogs of the post, people contributed their theories on the analogy, which began blending the idea that clowns were exotic animals. On July 31st, 2017, Tumblr user peculiar-little-rabbit^[3] added a comment that said “Clowns are actually the watered down, domesticated funny makers to the raw stylings of mimes.” This sparked further dialogue on the post, including reblogs by Tumblr user aviculor^[4] which stated:

You look at a mime and tell me that doesn’t have the raw, untamed energy of a wolf. The clown is the tamed household one, colorful and designed to warm hearts and bring chuckles and entertain. But a mime…..that is something savage and unbridled from the wilderness. You ask a mime to make you laugh and it will go for the jugular. Not to say a clown is unable to go feral, just the opposite. It’s just that approaching a mime in its natural habitat without due respect, expecting it to be the same creature as your auntie’s pedigree purebred Bozo, will be the last mistake you ever make.

A reblog of the post by bramblepatch^[5] took the joke further on August 1st, writing:

Clowns… clearly show the hallmarks of a domesticated creature, and like dogs, a domesticated creature with incredible variety within the population, from sturdy working types such as the rodeo clown, to ancient show types with well-defined breed standards such as the various characters of the commedia dell’arte, to social companion types such as birthday clowns.

As the post spread, others joined in the discourse by creating text posts centering around the joke that clowns are exotic animals. For example, a post by canneddog^[6] which talked about “declawing clowns” gained over 21,000 notes (shown below, top). User severalowls^[7] created a Starter Pack for people who “probably shouldn’t have clowns” that gained over 68,000 notes (shown below, bottom).

severalowls^[8] later added lengthy ground rules for taking care of a pet clown, written in parody of animal care guides. For example, one of the ground rules reads:

Clowns are creatures that need to clown. They were not meant to be domesticated and profited from as pets. They are highly active creatures that will self harm from stress in such confined spaces. Circus Clowns are delightful to keep in groups, though they are fine on their own, but every 1 clown adds 30 square feet to the space needed. They need multiple props and performance areas in order to replicate their natural environment. These are examples of proper Circus Clown or other basic clown enclosures.

Meme Documentation covered the spread of these posts on September 21st, 2017.^[1]

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

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About

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome refers to a series of image macros that feature a humerous adversity in the caption and picture of Bear Grylls from the reality television series Man vs. Wild and the subtitle “Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.”

Origin

On September 25th, 2017, Redditor^[1] furrutia29 posted an image of Bear Grylls with the subtitle “Improvise. Adapt. Overcome” and the caption “when the porn video doesnt load so you beat your meat to the ads” in the /r/dankmemes subreddit. Within 24 hours, the post (shown below) received more than 6,200 points (98% upvoted) and 50 comments.

Spread

Throughout the next 24 hours, Redditors of the subreddit /r/dankmemes began posting numerous variations of the meme. Redditor MaxGGEASY posted one (shown below, left) with the caption “when you beat the 5 year old who has the better beyblade” and received more than 1,000 points (96% upvoted) in 12 hours. Afterwards, more Redditors posted examples (examples below, center and right).

On September 25th, Redditor^[2] Exodus_22 posted the meme in the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Not Available.

External References

About

Man’s Not Hot is the titel to a rap song released by UK comedian Michael Dapaah under his persona as rapper Roadman Shaq. The specific song managed to gather attention due to a specific section in the song during which Dapaah raps obnoxious gunshot onomatopoeias, which is used in video remixes in a variety of situations. Following the viral spread of the song on social media, Dapaah soon made an official release for the song.

Origin

On August 29th, 2017, UK comedian Michael Dapaah appeared as a guest on Fire in the Booth, a rap show on BBC’s 1Xtra radio station. In the session, Dapaah takes on a few personas who aspire to go viral through the radio station: MC Quakez (a quieter aspiring rapper) and Roadman Shaq (a swaggering gangster rapper); both personas are parodies of rapper stereotypes. During the latter section, in which Roadman Shaq takes the mic, Dapaah eventually freestyle raps obnoxious gunshot onomatopoeias in his song “Man’s Not Hot”. By August 25th, the Youtube version of the session managed to gather over 870,000 views (shown below, specific song starts at 10:36).

“The ting goes skrrrahh, pap, pap, ka-ka-ka
Skidiki-pap-pap, and a pu-pu-pudrrrr-boom
Skya, du-du-ku-ku-dun-dun
Poom, poom, you dun know”

Spread

[Researching]

Official Release

On September 22nd, following the viral spread of his song, Dapaah decided to make an official release of Man’s Not Hot; listing himself as the composer, but this time using a Big Shaq persona as the performer.^[1][5] This release was also covered by online rap/music magazines.^[3][6]

External References

About

Nothing But Respect for MY President refers to a series of image macros that uses the catchphrase “nothing by respect for my president” to caption a picture of something that is not the president.

Origin

On June 28th, 2017, Twitter user @makenna_mg posted a picture of herself cleaning up President Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which had been covered in stickers and graffiti. She captioned the post “Stopped to clean @realDonaldTrump Hollywood Star. Nothing but respect for MY President. #RaisedRight” Within five days, the post (shown below) received more than 55,000 retweets 208,000 likes.^[1]

Search Interest

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About

Welcome To The Resistance is a catchphrase said by Twitter users who identify with the #Resist movement against the Donald Trump administration to those expressing their disillusionment with Trump or coming out with an anti-Trump statement for the first time. The line became parodied over 2017 as people began “welcoming” more absurd people to “the resistance” for various actions.

Origin

The #Resist movement started immediately following the November 8th, 2016 United States Presidential Election, and while the phrase “Welcome to the Resistance” had appeared on Twitter prior to the election, its use in the current anti-Trump context began appearing with the rise of the #Resist movement (examples shown below).

Spread

Shortly after the election, “Welcome to the Resistance” began seeing use as a catchphrase in editorials and various articles. Advocate.com^[1] posted an article titled “Welcome to the Resistance” on November 11th, 2016. They did so again on December 21st in an op-ed written by actor George Takei.^[2] In These Times^[3] wrote an article with that title on December 1st. Meanwhile, the phrase continued being used mostly in earnest through early 2017 and the start of the Trump administration on Twitter. However, as certain news broke about dissent within the administration began to break, people started jokingly pairing the phrase with prominent Republicans and even members of the Trump administration (examples shown below). The meme is generally formatted by saying “(Name)… Welcome to the Resistance”

Towards the summer of 2017 and beyond, the phrase became more of a meme, often paired with unlikely voices of dissent or various people in the administration, including Trump himself. For example, a popular tweet by Virgil Texas^[4] of Chapo Trap House paired the phrase with Trump and gained over 160 retweets and 1,400 likes (shown below).

Various Examples

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Sad Vandy Kid refers to an image of a fan of the Vanderbilt college football team looking mopey while his team was losing 52-0 to the Alabama Crimson Tide. It turned into a reaction image on sports-centric Twitter after the image was posted online.

Origin

On September 23rd, 2017, Vanderbilt played Alabama, one of the strongest teams in the country, at the Vanderbilt University stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. In the 3rd quarter of the game, Alabama had a commanding 52-0 lead, dominating Vanderbilt. CBS cameras caught an image of a fan looking downtrodden while the score displayed on screen. CBS Sports tweeted the image that evening, gaining over 1,600 retweets and 6,500 likes (shown below).

Spread

Various Examples

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Cool Girl Callie is an image macro series featuring a photograph of Omaha resident Elisabeth Percival captioned with various scenarios in which she treats others with respect in a similar vein to Cool Chick Carol image macros.

Origin

On May 27th, 2009, Flickr^[2] user Elisabeth Percival uploaded a photograph of herself drinking out of a coffee mug while wearing a blue tank top (shown below, left). Over the next eight years, the picture only gathered upwards of 6,200 views and 20 comments. According to Google cache, a Quickmeme^[4] page titled “Cool Girl Callie” was created in October of 2013, which featured the picture of Percival along with various captions including “Yeah, I’m a feminist / splits the check” and “Tells guy ’Let’s just be friends’ / Introduces him to his future gf” (shown below, middle, right).

Spread

The meme remained relatively unknown until September 24th, 2017, when the Omaha World Herald^[1] published an interview with Percival titled “Omaha woman was confused, then terrified to find that her face had become a meme,” in which Percival describes how she felt after discovering the photograph was being used as an image macro (shown below).

“At first I was confused, and then I was terrified because everyone knows that the Internet can be a cruel place.”

That evening, the article was submitted to Fark,^[5] where user doyner submitted a photograph of Percival holding a picture of the meme on her phone with the caption “Becomes a positive meme / lives up to it” (shown below). On September 25th, The Daily Mail^[3] published an article about Percival’s discovery of the meme titled “Nebraska woman’s horror after she discovers that a decade-old photo of herself became a meme.”

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Channel Zero is a horror anthology television series which takes inspiration from popular creepypastas and airs on the Syfy network.

History

Channel Zero is written, run, and produced by Nick Antosca.^[1] In 2015, Syfy announced they had green-lit two series of the program, the first to air in 2016. Antosca and Max Landis were named executive producers. The first series was to be based off the popular creepypasta Candle Cove, and the second would be based off NoEnd House. On February 9th, 2017, Syfy greenlit two more series titled Staircases and Hidden Door.

Candle Cove

On September 26th, 2016, the Syfy YouTube channel uploaded a trailer for the series (shown below). On October 9th, the trailer reached the front page of the /r/creepy subreddit, garnering more than 2,200 votes (95% upvoted) and 240 comments in 48 hours. On October 11th, 2016, the first season premiered, which is based on the Candle Cove story. The series was directed by Craig William Macneill

No-End House

On August 16th, 2017, the Syfy YouTube channel uploaded the first full trailer for No-End House (stylized from the title of the original creepypasta, “NoEnd House”) (shown below). The show then premiered on September 20th, 2017. The series was directed by Steven Piet.

Reception

The series has thus far been generally favorably reviewed. On Metacritic,^[2] the “Candle Cove” series of the show has a rating of 75/100 based on five reviews. Critics lauded the series’ understated approach towards making a show out of the source material.

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External References

X but with healthbars is a parody of boss fights in movies and healthbars in video games. If someone gets hurt, their health decreases.

About

Maid Cafés are cosplay restaurants found primarily in Japan in which the female staff are dressed as servants, traditionally in french maid garb, and treat customers as though they were their masters or mistresses.

History and Appearance

The first Maid Café was the Cure Maid Café on Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan, and was established in March of 2001.^[1] There, young, innocent-looking Japanese girls cosplay as maids, usually with a typical french-maid costume, and appeal to otaku clientele with a moe fetish.

Related Memes

Ignored At The Maid Café

Search Interest

External References

About

Everyday Carry (EDC) refers to items carried on someone’s person each day, typically including keys, flashlights, knives, pens, notebooks, smartphones and wallets. Online, photographs and videos of various EDC collections are often shared in communities on Reddit, 4chan and YouTube.

Origin

While the exact origin of the phrase “everyday carry” is unclear, the earliest known archived thread dedicated to sharing EDC items was submitted by BladeForums^[6] member UnknownVT in a thread titled “EDC– What’s in Your Pocket(s)?” on March 16th, 2003.

Spread

On January 27th, 2005, the website EveryDayCarry.com^[4] was launched, highlighting various products and items commonly found in EDC collections. On December 15th, 2006, Urban Dictionary^[3] user Elbios submitted an entry for EDC, defining it as “items you carry with you every day.” On December 21st, 2009, the /r/EDC^[1] subreddit was launched for photographs of EDC items. Within eight years, the community gathered upwards of 148,000 subscribers. On March 28th, 2013, the Tested YouTube channel uploaded a video showcasing Adam Savage’s EDC (shown below, left). Within four years, the video gained over 2.2 million views and 3,000 comments.

On December 27th, 2015, Redditor burnerzero submitted a photograph of various children’s toys in a post titled “3 and 3/4 / M / Unemployed” to /r/EDC,^[2] where it received upwards of 3,800 points (88% upvoted) and 120 comments prior to being archived.

On September 6th, 2017, YouTuber DemolitionRanch uploaded a video displaying his EDC items (shown below). Over the next month, the video gathered upwards of 1.7 million views and 12,500 comments. The same day, YouTuber alpha m. uploaded a video showcasing his EDC items (shown below, right).

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A horribly animated knee brace commercial that not much is known of is usually referred to as catch me if you can Kiddo! Only a couple memes have actually been made of the video but it’s very cringey

This is the original Tanner meme.