Childless cat lady memes mock remarks made by Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance about Democrats such as Vice President Kamala Harris. Vance’s comments trashing women who don’t have children, whether by choice or biological or environmental circumstance, have not gone over well with much of the massive voter block.

“We are effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too,” said Donald Trump’s running mate. “And it’s just a basic fact if you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC—the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”

What are the childless cat lady memes about?

In response to this derision towards women who have cats but no children, people have been posting photos of their favorite ladies who love cats as "childless cat lady" memes. These include widely beloved figures with mass numbers of fans such as singer Taylor Swift and the late actress and animal lover Betty White.

JD Vance's "childless cat lady" remarks

Vance made the "childless cat lady" remarks on July 29, 2021, on an episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight. The then-Ohio Senator was trying to claim that people can only feel as though they have a stake in their nation's future if they have biological children.

Harris is the stepmother of two children brought into her life by her husband, attorney Doug Emhoff after they met on a blind date in 2013.

The childless cat lady memes of 2024 began to pop up around Twitter on July 22, just after Vance's old comments resurfaced amid hype for Harris' presidential campaign.

What's with the childless cat lady hate?

The stereotype of the childless cat lady or "crazy" cat lady mixes contempt for the image of the "spinster" that originated in the 18th century with the even older fear of the witch who keeps cats and is more likely to eat children than birth them.

In 1881, writer Hart Ayrault bemoaned the unmarried, childless woman who had "failed in the prime object of existence"—which, at least for women in Vance's view, was marrying a man and popping out kids.

"Tradition associates her with cats and parrots, on which she is supposed to lavish all that is left of affection in her withered heart," he wrote in Potter’s American Monthly.

Jennifer Aniston responds to Vance

On July 24, actress Jennifer Aniston posted to Instagram Stories, lambasting Vance for his statements in a rare foray into politics.

"I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States," the video text read. "All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too."

Aniston herself struggled with fertility difficulties, undergoing IVF and other treatments for a time in her late 30s and into her 40s. Her attempts to get pregnant were ultimately unsuccessful. She is more of a dog lady, however.

Vance has since doubled down during an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show last week. “Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment,” he said. "I’ve got nothing against cats.”

“People are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said. And the substance of what I said, I’m sorry, it’s true.”

Childless cat ladies would like a word

Related memes:

• 17 of the funniest JD Vance couch memes
• A JD Vance meme for every American
• Crying cat meme: A history of tears
• GOP congressman resorts to cat memes in Obamacare fight

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The post JD Vance’s 2021 remarks birth ‘childless cat lady’ memes appeared first on The Daily Dot.

Ugly Sonic references the original, much-abhorred video game character design for 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog. When the trailer was first released in late 2019, fans disapproved so vocally that the character was redesigned to resemble longtime fans' expectations.

Some thought that the film was doomed. However, it later seemed the character could be saved. Ugly Sonic himself wasn't doomed either, as seen in the many memes he's spawned.

The origins of Ugly Sonic

The first look at the 2020 take on Sonic came from ad agency Hamagami / Carroll Inc. Images from the company were leaked, revealing what the animated design of the film's version of Sonic looked like. People immediately regarded the design as off and, in one instance, "the stuff of nightmares." However, it wasn't until the film's first trailer came out that the full effect of the design was felt.

On April 30, 2019, the Sonic the Hedgehog trailer was released. The film was promised to be computer-animation-meets-live-action. The trailer simply fell short of expectations and the character's design stood out in a distracting way. Rather than matching the animation of Pokémon's Detective Pikachu, Sonic was punier, weird-looking, and had unsettling human-like teeth, quickly earning him the moniker 'Ugly Sonic' across social media.

The fervent backlash to Sonic's look made it clear that changes were necessary for the film to see commercial success.

Two days after the trailer's release, director Jeff Fowler tweeted and confirmed that major edits would happen to make the film live up to expectations.

Ugly Sonic and Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers

These memes enjoyed a moment from the time the trailer came out to beyond the final film's release. In 2022, the meme officially picked up the moniker "Ugly Sonic" with the release of Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers.

The character appears in the film in a meta form. Ugly Sonic is an actor who played Sonic the Hedgehog in the film's trailer within the Chip N' Dale universe. The cameo was genuinely funny and was a clever way to make use of the scrapped design. However bad the design was originally regarded, fans have found a way to come around and embrace Ugly Sonic.

PewDiePie’s Ugly Sonic drawing makes millions

In May 2019, Felix Kjellberg, who goes by PewDiePie on YouTube, announced he was going to try to draw Sonic the Hedgehog from memory.

“I think what freaked everyone out was the fact that he had human teeth at least that’s what I was bothered by,” said the YouTuber while attempting to draw Sonic. “Why does it look so creepy?” he asked of his own drawing. “I’m trying. I’m scaring myself.”

PewDiePie then tweeted that he would be putting his drawing on eBay. According to Dexerto, bidding on the doodle hit £10 million within hours.

More meme examples

Related memes:

• Sonic the Hedgehog live-action memes are so hot right now
• Poster for ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movie sparks memes
• The angry Jigglypuff in ‘Detective Pikachu’ is already a meme

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Hugh Jackman's Wolverine meme nod is hyping X-Men fans after a high-grossing weekend for Deadpool & Wolverine. On his Instagram account, Jackman posted a photo of himself in full costume lying on a bed and looking at a photo in a frame, followed by a shot of what was in the frame.

"#1 movie in the world," it reads.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hugh Jackman (@thehughjackman)

The film grossed over $100 million in the U.S. alone over 24 hours and nabbed the top spot for movie earnings worldwide during its opening weekend. It reportedly broke the record for cash made over an R-rated film's first opening days as well as the best performance for a movie released in July, making over $438 million worldwide by Sunday.

What is Hugh Jackman's Wolverine meme referencing?

The original gag is known as the Wolverine crush meme, which shows the character from the animated series X-Men from the 1990s in the same pose, gazing longingly at a photo of Cyclops and Jean Grey. In the show, he strokes the image of Grey, indicating that he has a crush on her. This occurred on episode five of season one, which aired on January 30, 1993.

In the early 2010s, someone paired two screenshots from this scene while replacing the photo of the X-Men characters with someone else, creating a two-panel exploitable meme that would grace social media for many years to come. This first appearance of the meme is rumored to have been on Reddit on September 18, 2011, but the NSFW-labeled image has been removed from the forum.

Since then, the format has been edited to show any individual, fictional character, or objection the meme creator feels affection for.

Ryan Reynolds responds to the Hugh Jackman Wolverine meme

Just hours after the Hugh Jackman Wolverine meme hit the screen, Ryan Reynolds, who plays Deadpool as his co-star in the film, created his own version of the gag for Instagram. This image shows Deadpool in his bed pining after a photo of Jackman's meme from earlier on July 28, 2024.

"I miss Hugh already," he wrote.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ryan Reynolds (@vancityreynolds)

Deadpool having a crush on other superhero characters such as Spider-Man and Wolverine has been a running gag for some time. He has been particularly focused on other men during this era of increased acceptance for LGBTQ+ people and was previously known to chronically flirt with female characters.

Deadpool is canonically pansexual.

Decade-old Deadpool game price spikes

In addition to increasing interest in a beloved meme from over 10 years ago, an old Deadpool game became much more valuable than it was last week following the fantastic opening weekend of Deadpool & Wolverine.

The game, simply titled Deadpool, was released in 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Prior to last weekend, the original versions sold for around $30, while the re-release for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One was going for $50. Now, you'll be lucky to find a new copy on eBay for less than $100, or $150 for the upgraded versions.

Wolverine crush meme examples

Related memes:

• What is the honey badger meme?
• Strong Female Superhero Pose meme gets a Hawkeye reboot
• A short history of the Spoderman meme
• ‘Peter Parker dancing with the Joker’ meme trolls new Joaquin Phoenix film

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"Shut up and take my money!" is a meme of the character Fry from the animated series Futurama shaking a wad of cash at a store employee during the early iPhone craze.

This reaction meme is perfect for the moment you find the thing you never knew you were looking for but have to have. In just over a decade, the phrase and the moment have become a major part of internet lingo.

Origins of the Shut Up and Take My Money! meme

The scene is featured in a July 2010 Season 6, Episode 3 of the show called "Attack of the Killer App." The episode centers around the release of an "EyePhone," which Fry heads to the store to buy. When the store employee is honest with him about the device's shortcomings, Fry interrupts and yells, "Shut up and take my money," shaking a wad of cash in his hand.

The moment almost instantly clicked with audiences. No sooner did the episode air than the internet identified the moment as super relatable. We've all had that moment of reckless spending, where the money flies quicker than the reason in your mind.

Since the meme has taken off, "shut up and take my money" has become omnipresent. It has taken on a life of its own, resulting in countless hilarious memes. The internet's fondness of the concept has made the phrase a part of the modern vernacular in a seamless way.

It's inspired r/shutupandtakemymoney, a subreddit dedicated to "the best, most creative, and classiest gadgets and nerdware on the interwebz." There is also a website in a similar vein that sells kitschy gadgets and nerdy deep cuts that people adore.

Meme examples:

Related memes:

• Shut up and take these ‘Futurama’ memes
• Here are some of the all-time greatest ‘Simpsons’ memes
• Why the Lisa Simpson presentation meme captured our attention
• The story behind the ultimate Homer Simpson meme

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The Kamala Harris political compass meme uses the traditional grid format but replaces political positions with pieces of Harris quotes. Social media users are taking the template and placing characters from popular media in each quadrant, as well as anything from Taylor Swift albums to medieval paintings.

The meme spread as part of the enthusiasm around the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden bowed out of the 2024 race following pressure from high-level Democrats and much of the public.

What is the Kamala Harris political compass meme?

This summer meme is a variation of the standard political compass meme format, a grid split into four quadrants with the ends of each axis labeled “left,” “right,” “authoritarian,” and “libertarian.” The Kamala Harris meme replaces these with “thinks she just fell out of a coconut tree,” “exists in the context,” “what can be,” and “burdened by what has been.”

These new labels reference statements made by Harris during political speeches that have become viral memes. The story about her mother and the coconut tree, and her habit of talking about “what can be, unburdened by what has been” have contributed to her reputation as a little bit weird and silly, making the Vice President relatable to all the messy ladies out there.

Origin of the political compass meme

Pace News LTD and political journalist Wayne Brittenden created and copyrighted the political compass we know today in 2001. Their website provides recommended reading to understand each of the four types of political thinking they’ve proposed: Authoritarian left, authoritarian right, libertarian left, and libertarian right.

The idea was that a set of 62 propositions could be used to categorize any individual, political party, or ideology, placing them somewhere on the grid based on how extreme or moderate they are in terms of economic and social policy.

Parodies of the political compass have appeared online since the early 2010s. Some of them attempt to describe the political attitudes of each quadrant in amusing and often biased terms, while others represent each with images of characters from popular media, celebrities, objects, other memes, or anything else imaginable.

The Kamala Harris political compass meme origins

The first use of the Kamala Harris political compass meme appeared on Twitter on July 24, 2024, by user @waldenmgreen. It makes use of two popular and highly meme quotes from Harris in speeches she gave at political events.

The one on the X-axis references the famous coconut tree quote from May 2023. Video footage of the speech in which Harris talked about something her mother liked to say was posted by the RNC Research account on Twitter to disparage her—a move that backfired spectacularly.

“My mother used to—she would give us a hard time sometimes and she would say to us ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you,’” Harris says in the video.

Harris has used the phrase "what can be, unburdened by what has been" multiple times during her political career. Its use as a meme may originate from yet another blunder by RNC Research from December 17, 2023.

Meme spread

Followers of @waldenmgreen responded to her initial post with their versions of the Kamala Harris political compass meme as the week went on. It wasn't long before the meme's creator provided a template of the new grid to make things easier on their fans.

It took less than a day for Twitter users to move on from fictional characters and to other subjects, including very old paintings and books from the 90s.

Kamala Harris political compass meme template

Examples

Related memes:

• Where do you stand on these new political compass memes?
• Reddit turns on Kamala Harris as memes overwhelm forums
• Biden-Harris dropout memes mark the legacy of 2020s political humor
• Kamala Harris is having a ‘Brat Girl Summer’: Here’s what that means

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People cannot get enough of the J.D. Vance couch meme after a tweet falsely claimed that the Trump VP pick had made love to a sofa. Despite multiple articles debunking the post, and one which only helped to fuel tongue-in-cheek speculation, jokes about the U.S. Senator having relations with and being sexually attracted to furniture have continued into the week.

Social media users have now produced videos, limericks, and fake press releases related to the rumor.

J.D. Vance and the couch

If you missed it, you might want to sit down (but not on a couch). The reason this J.D. Vance couch meme is going around is because one single Twitter user decided to sow chaos by declaring that Donald Trump's running mate admitted in his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy to getting down with a latex glove inserted between two couch cushions.

The pages cited contain no such admission, and that individual followed it up with the meme from Arthur saying: "You really think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies?"

Technically, the only thing Vance did wrong was to put himself in the spotlight by trying to be the next U.S. Vice President.

Why is the J.D. Vance couch meme still a thing?

The pushback from fact-checking outlets and Twitter Community Notes has only perpetuated the joke. On July 25, 2024, The Associated Press published and then deleted an article debunking the claim about Vance's affinity for sofas.

The fact that the article was deleted didn't make people think that the rumor was true, but pretending it did became a joke of its own.

As of July 26, the Vance couch jokes are still going strong.

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Related memes:

• The couch that took over the internet
• TikTok’s fixation on ‘Couch guy’ brings out parodies and memes
• ‘Project coconut is a go’: Kamala Harris memes flood the internet after Biden drops out
• Kamala Harris cop meme: 2024 edition

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The post 17 of the funniest JD Vance couch memes appeared first on The Daily Dot.

Conservative podcaster David J. Harris, Jr. accidentally created the “guy in plane wearing a convicted felon shirt” meme, after filming himself on a plane wearing a pro-Trump T-shirt. Harris, Jr. has made a name for himself by wearing merchandise supporting the 2024 campaign of former President Donald Trump and going out in public to film reactions.

In this particular attempt, he didn’t get as much attention for his shirt portraying a ballot between President Joe Biden and “convicted felon,” and the podcaster’s own reaction to this became an exploitable meme.

David J. Harris Jr. doesn't get the reactions he hoped for

This video meme shows Harris sitting in his seat on a flight as other passengers board. He’s filming himself with his shirt in full view, which displays the name “Joe Biden” first next to an empty ballot bubble and “convicted felon” next with the bubble filled in, thus indicating that Harris intends to vote for Trump regardless or perhaps because of his 34 felony convictions.

Harris watches the faces of the other passengers as they go by, indicating he is expecting reactions to his shirt. While a couple of people do react positively to the content, there are long periods in which he’s just sitting there periodically smiling or greeting people who happen to accidentally make eye contact.

The implication is that most people weren’t interested in giving Harris the attention he was seeking, and based on the memes popping up on Twitter and TikTok, many seem to feel that this made him look a bit sad. Twitter users are posting clips from the video with captions such as “When you’re on aux and no is asking what song is this" and other "me when" jokes.

Who is the guy in the plane wearing a 'Joe Biden/ convicted felon' shirt?

Harris describes himself as "an entrepreneur, author, and podcast host" and supports many right-wing politicians and pundits, mostly by wearing a lot of pro-Trump merch. He has appeared on conservative networks such as Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax.

His main gimmick appears to be wearing inflammatory hats and shirts mostly promoting the Trump campaign or attacking his rivals in public places to farm reactions for content and portray himself as very brave for doing so. He also happens to sell a lot of this merchandise himself on his website, frequently promoting these items to his fans.

On May 30, 2024, Donald Trump was convicted of all 34 submitted felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. These convictions increased support for Trump among his established fan base as they embraced the idea that the trial was a form of persecution against their charismatic leader.

It looks as though Harris posted and deleted the plane video with the convicted felon shirt multiple times on his Twitter account, but the first post that is still up dates back to June 7, 2024. The video shows one of his original tweets bragging that he boarded first because he was in First Class and therefore everyone had to walk past him—a point he repeated in his new tweet.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by David Harris Jr (@davidjharrisjr)

A similar video posted to his Instagram account on June 9 shows a tweet that says he was flying out of Seattle, a city known to have a high liberal population, which helps explain why he assumed he would get negative reactions to the shirt.

David J. Harris Jr. plane video transforms into a meme

The meme use of the video didn't kick off until late July after Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. This may have only made the meme funnier as it spread across Twitter.

User @isolatereggie made a joke about being on the aux on July 22, gaining over 4.7 million views and over 117,000 likes within three days.

@davidjharrisjr People always ask me… and this is why friends! Tik tok doesnt like it when it when I tell you where to find my stuff, so… 🤣 #airplane #time ♬ original sound - David Harris Jr

Harris himself may have helped turn his video into a meme by reposting the footage several times into July across his various social media accounts, including one from his TikTok account posted on July 8 with a voice-over talking about how bold and brave he is for wearing pro-Trump stuff.

More examples

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The "Kamala Harris has announced that, if elected" meme is being used to joke about ridiculous platforms the Harris campaign could support in the 2024 election—usually as a stand-in for what the meme-poster wants to see in this world.

How did the meme start?

On July 22, President Joe Biden announced he was ending his campaign for president as the Democratic nominee. In his statement, he threw his support behind Kamala Harris, who has been his Vice President throughout his first term. The news was pretty shocking since Biden has been insisting he'd stay in the race despite a poor showing at his first 2024 presidential debate against Donald Trump and a waning track record with leftist voters.

The response online was intense, birthing thousands of memes in several categories (more on that below). A popular one begins with the phrase, “Kamala Harris has announced that, if elected," followed by something preposterous.

Or perhaps something reasonable, depending on your POV. But definitely not something that Kamala Harris is promising to ever do, whether she's elected or not.

Other Kamala Harris memes

If that's not enough in the world of memes, there are plenty of other categories of Harris memes that might tickle your fancy.

There's “What can be, unburdened by what has been” and the "coconut tree meme," both of which come from a comment Harris made about living in the context of history. Then there is "Kamala is Brat," inspired by the popularity of Charli XCX's recent album Brat and by the singer's endorsement of the politician on X, formerly Twitter. If you want to exist more in the context of what has been, there's always the "Kamala Harris is a cop" meme, which refers to her history as a "tough on crime" prosecutor before becoming the Attorney General of California.

And then there's always where we are at right now in history, with the "Biden is dropping out" memes. Because he sure did.

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"Hello There" is a quote from Ewan McGregor’s portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the 2005 prequel film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. In the online community, the scene it originates from has been used in various remix videos and images, in addition to appearing as copious internet comments. The meme is meant to portray surprise met with a dash of mischief, particularly among the internet Star Wars fandom. 

Where is the Hello There meme from?

The Hello There meme is from Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, which was released on May 19th, 2005. In context, Obi-Wan Kenobi jumps from several levels above to surprise rival and secondary film villain General Grievous, accompanied by a gleeful “hello there!” 

Hello There meme spread

On August 21st, 2007, a remix of the Sith moment appeared on YouTube via user Thereisnospoon303 titled "OBI-WAN SAYS HELLO WHILE I PLAY UNFITTING MUSIC." The video currently sits at 48k views. 

Seven years later, on March 25th, 2014, the moment appeared on Tumblr among several other Obi-Wan GIFS via a post by suzcatonmars. The post has received more than 2,100 notes and is still live here. 

Like Obi-Wan himself, Hello There lay low for a few years until January 29th, 2017, when Imgur user Spatzz posted a photoshopped version of Obi-Wan saying the line as part of a "dump of 50 prequel memes." The post received more than 1,600 points and 96,000 views.

Concurrently, the Hello There phrase and image started to gain prominence on Reddit in /r/PrequelMemes. For instance, a popular photoshopped shitpost involving the moment appeared on February 24th, 2017 via zenthegod.  

This led to the meme being used more regularly on the subreddit as time passed. For instance, on July 23rd, 2018, a clip from Star Wars: Clone Wars which recreates the original Hello There scene, but with General Grievous saying the phrase, was edited into a clip from the sitcom Parks and Recreation featuring Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman). 

When you rewatch The Clone Wars and realize that Grievous said "Hello there" first
byu/RealShooterMcGavin inPrequelMemes

The following year, as many things do, Hello There found its way to TikTok. On December 4th, 2019, user @chuggernuts uploaded an audio clip from the original Revenge of the Sith scene and reenacted it. The post garnered 28.7k likes in a month. 

@jonpaul.jpg prequels>>> #foryou #hitormiss #meme #zeze #pewdiepie #starwars #funny #comedy #joke ♬ Original Sound - Unknown

A couple of weeks later, on December 19th, TikToker @codecosplay uploaded another version of the scene in which two people create a four-arm DIY General Grievous. In its first three weeks, the video garnered 366k likes. 

@codecosplay Hello there shot by @mellyjelly13  #hellothere #starwars #generalgrevious #foryou ♬ Original Sound - Unknown

As time went on, the Hello There TikTok remixes and parodies became increasingly abstract.  For instance, December 31st, 2019 saw the posting of a video featuring the DIY Grievous brandishing odd items as weapons. That video saw over 312k likes in its first week. 

@logan_shaw Lightsaber machine broke #starwars #boys #fyp #obiwan #generalgrievous #hellothere #generalkenobi #riseofskywalker #funny #anime #demonslayer ♬ Original Sound - Unknown

Why does Obi-Wan always say “hello there”? 

The short answer as to why McGregor’s Obi-Wan said “hello there” is because Alec Guinness said it in the original Star Wars (or Episode IV: A New Hope). The first line humanity ever heard from Obi-Wan Kenobi was “hello there!”

If you recall, Obi-Wan, in a hooded getup, rescues Luke and R2D2 from Tuscan Raiders on Tatooine. Once Obi-Wan’s successfully defeated the foes, he approaches R2D2, takes off his hood, and utters “hello there” to let the droid know he means no danger. It’s a nice little moment and a great introduction to an iconic character. 

In larger Star Wars canon, “hello there” has also been said in The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, and Obi-Wan 5, among others. Speaking of which…

What is the reply to 'hello there'?

As in the original Revenge of the Sith scene, the only appropriate reply to “hello there” online is “General Kenobi!” As a result, you see it pop up in countless comments sections in content featuring “hello there,” whether intentional or not.

For instance, a 2018 Instagram post by Emma Roberts captioned “hello there” proceeded to receive 113,000 comments (with some as recent as the week of this writing) and counting, with pretty much everyone posting “General Kenobi!” 

Way to understand the assignment, all. 

Ewan McGregor addresses the meme

During a May 24th, 2022 interview promoting his new Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, McGregor confirmed he was aware of the “meme legacy” phrase. He also mentioned that he’s said it a few times in his everyday life. While McGregor admits he does not enjoy when people request for him to say it on the street, he enjoys the catchphrase on its own. 

It’s a good thing that McGregor tolerates the line, because he was written to say it again in 2022’s Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. During the scene in question, he greets a young child version of Luke Skywalker. Bringing the quote into the 2020s has led to some notable YouTube compilations of all the different versions of “hello there,” notably the below video uploaded by Kakuchopurei on June 22nd, 2022. 

Meme examples 

Related memes:

• The best ‘Star Wars’ memes
• This ‘Star Wars: Attack of the Clones’ meme detects red flags
• A sampling of the funniest ‘Star Wars’ memes the internet has to offer
• Suddenly, Star Wars’ Chancellor Palpatine has conquered the entire meme landscape

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"Chickens for KFC" is a phrase used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to mock queer pro-Palestinian protesters. During a speech to the U.S. Congress on July 24, 2024, Netanyahu remarked on demonstrators outside of the venue holding signs reading "gays for Gaza" and similar messages by likening them to chickens who support the fast food chain restaurant Kentucky Fried Chicken, better known as KFC.

"Some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming 'gays for Gaza,'" he said. "They might as well hold up signs saying 'Chickens for KFC.'"

What does Netanyahu's 'chickens for KFC' comment mean?

The Israeli government and its supporters have been stressing the idea that queer people are oppressed by the ruling party in Gaza, as well as by the leaders and governments of other Palestinian territories and nations that support Palestine. They therefore conclude that the LGBTQ+ community should not stand against Israel in the violent conflict that has been unfolding in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Some of the most ardent supporters of the Israeli government go as far as to claim that any queer person who might enter Gaza would be killed as soon as they were outed, much like a chicken who might walk into the processing factory of a KFC supplier. The implication is that every queer person should support Israel against Palestine regardless of any other context.

Many queer Palestinians and other experts on the situation have rejected this premise. While Hamas, the political and military organization governing parts of the Gaza Strip, is generally anti-LGBTQ and does little to stop homophobic violence, this governing body does not represent all Palestinian people and has not been elected to leadership since before most Gaza residents were born.

Origins of 'chickens for KFC'

The first use of the "chickens for KFC" meme that can be found and dated on social media is a post by Twitter user @TwittiKat over a photo of what appears to be two men carrying a banner reading "Women for Mitt," referencing the Mitt Romney campaign against former President Barack Obama.

The account joked that the Romney supporters were "closely affiliated with Chickens for KFC and Oceans for British Petroleum."

It can be argued, of course, that gay Americans are much more likely to be directly impacted by the president of their own country than an organization in a far-away nation they do not live in.

'Chickens for KFC' spread

This particular tweet did not spread very far, but others using the phrase have appeared throughout the years as people wonder why others would support individuals or groups who seem to hate them. On January 8, 2020, Twitter user @MahyarTousi used it over a photo of activists holding a banner reading "Queers for Palestine."

Social media users continued to use the "chickens for KFC" meme to mock various activists and protesters around various political topics, though the issue of Israel and Palestine seems to be the most likely subject. In addition to LGBTQ+ folks, people have used it to attack Jewish supporters of the Palestinian struggle as well, drawing on the inaccurate claim that all Palestinians are antisemitic.

Examples

Related memes:

• ‘Y’all better be voting uncommitted’: Pennsylvania organizers are using memes to encourage ‘uncommitted’ protest votes
• John Fetterman’s meme mocking voters calling for ceasefire in Palestine draws outrage: ‘Such a disappointment’
• ‘Intersectional civil war’: Clash between Pride marchers, Palestine supporters quickly becomes right-wing meme
• KFC turns Hodor’s infamous scene into a commercial

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