“‘Oh my God! That’s him! That’s really him!’”
The people behind the memes they can’t escape
In 2015, when I was a struggling comedian looking to make some extra cash, I went on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Sadly, I did not win a million dollars (I made out with a cool $5,000). But I was asked about the classic R&B hit “No Diggity,” and the expression on my face in response to that question became a meme. (I got the question right, by the way.) Now I have an internet identity beyond my control: I’m the face of Clueless White Guy. Every four to six months, a new meme account posts my photo and another cycle of emails and messages from people I haven’t spoken with in years begins. A woman from my high school once sent me a screenshot of someone using my meme to catfish her on the dating app JSwipe.
It’s an odd feeling, knowing that your photo is being shared by millions of strangers. Other memes, I figured, must understand my situation, so I sought out a few of them to compare notes.
WHO IS IT?
Tim Kim
Origin Story
After an intense game of pickup basketball, one of Tim’s friends took the photo and posted it on Facebook with the caption, “I hope this becomes a meme.” Nothing happened for a year, until someone at WorldStarHipHop posted it.
Memedom and its consequences
In job interviews, Tim has flashed his meme to would-be employers to break the ice. He says it’s actually helped score him a few jobs as an interaction designer for tech companies.
IS THE MEME TRUE TO LIFE?
“I’m constantly just faking it till I make it. It’s pretty accurate.”
BIZARRE POST-MEME MOMENT
One day, walking around his neighborhood in Los Angeles, Tim saw “Wanted” posters with his face stapled onto every telephone pole as an ad campaign for the streetwear company Hall of Fame. “I called up, and I was like, ‘This is the Asian Baller. Are you looking for me?’ And they were like, ‘Wait, what? Who is this?’ … So I drove over and saw a giant cardboard cutout of myself. Everybody was like, ‘Oh my God! That’s him! That’s really him!’ ”
Who is it?
Hannah Giorgis
Origin Story
The photo, taken by the official photographer at Hannah’s Dartmouth graduation, came as a surprise: Hannah didn’t know it was being taken. When the photo company posted its pictures online for sale, Hannah’s made its way onto a number of African American Facebook groups.
Is the meme true to life?
“It represents a particular feeling I had at a particular time.”
Bizarre post-meme moment
A friend of Hannah’s saw the photo being sold as a print by street vendors in Amsterdam, a city Hannah has never visited.
Memedom and its consequences
“I’m not someone who believes that higher education is the only means of ‘racial uplift,’ but if my silly photo from 2013 can be inspiring in whatever small way to someone who’s having a hard time navigating those sorts of institutions, then I’ll always be glad this picture spread, however far.”
WHO IS IT?
Silvia Bottini
Origin Story
While still living in her native Italy, Silvia dated a stock-image photographer. He snapped a shot of Silvia crying in a temple on a vacation they took to China. The photo was staged. Crying on demand has long been one of Silvia’s talents — she’s a model and an actress. “I always look horrible when I cry,” she says. “People laugh because my face can do expressions that are really funny in an ugly way.”
Memedom and its consequences
Though it hasn’t necessarily brought her to tears, Silvia is unhappy about how she’s been portrayed. “It’s a curse.” One upside? When she had to prove “extraordinary ability” to obtain a long-term U.S. visa, she placed the meme alongside her other work. She got the visa.
IS THE MEME TRUE TO LIFE?
“Not at all the same! I’m not some rich, spoiled woman!”
BIZARRE POST-MEME MOMENT
Silvia appeared in a commercial in Spain, where the only thing that made her stop crying was Domino’s pizza.
WHO IS IT?
Zoe Roth
Origin Story
In 2004, when the fire department in her North Carolina town did a controlled house burn as a training exercise, 4-year-old Zoe and her family walked down the street to watch. Her dad took this snapshot and entered it into a magazine’s photography competition (it won). Two years after it was published, the photo went viral and became one of the internet’s earliest (and still most recognizable) memes.
Memedom and its consequences
This past summer, when Zoe was working in Shanghai, BuzzFeed flew her to New York City and put her up in a hotel so she could stand onstage with the guys from “Damn Daniel” and other internet celebrities at an event called Internet Live.
IS THE MEME TRUE TO LIFE?
“I’m not a sneaky person, but I still make that face to this day. It’s who I am a little bit.”
BIZARRE POST-MEME MOMENT
Zoe, now 19, recently learned (via a stranger’s Instagram post) that there’s a giant mural of her face in Porto, Portugal.