There’s a one hundred percent chance that you’ve commented on a Reddit thread or a friend’s Facebook post with a meme. Not only are memes an amazing way to communicate feelings without having to actually think of anything, they’re also really funny. Everyone has a favorite meme they like to use. For some people it’s 60’s Spiderman, and for others it’s the Ermahgerd Girl, but most people don’t stop to think that there are real people behind memes. Think about it, someone had to pose with a bunch of Goosebumps books so you could Photoshop Pokemon cards or whatever into her hands. These are the stories behind the real people who became memes on the Internet.
It's hard to believe that some of the memes you see every single day stem from real people with actual lives. But in a lot of cases, memes are totally based off of the average experiences of regular people. The weirdest part, is that sometimes, the people depicted in the memes don't even realize that they have become a meme until years later, when news trickles down to them. We've put together a list of the real stories behind the regular people who went viral. Check out these stories behind the memes, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comment section.
21 Stories of the Real People Behind Memes,
Ermahgerd Girl
The "Ermahgerd Girl" meme began when a 16-year-old kid from Canada was browsing a public Facebook photo gallery, and decided to post a weird photo that he saw on Reddit. Three years later, the Ermahgerd Girl was on a backpacking trip in India when one of her friends messaged her to let her know that she had become a meme. Now, Maggie Goldenberger, the Ermahgerd Girl, is a nurse in Phoenix, Arizona.
First World Problems Girl
The woman behind the first world problems meme, Silvia Bottini, is an Italian born model and actress who's been in a ton of commercials, and she even offers a public speaking course. She's basically the perfect person to represent the First World Problems meme.
Scumbag Steve
Scumbag Steve, the meme everyone loves to hate, is actually named Blake Boston and really is kind of a scumbag. The original photo is from his mom's 2006 Myspace page. According to Boston, he could have "stopped everything" going on with his photo being used by a meme, but didn't want to seem "uncool."
In other news that will surprise no one, the real Scumbag Steve is a not-so-great rapper.
Overly Attached Girlfriend
Because the Internet moves so fast, a lot of people don't remember that the Overly Attached Girl meme was created to poke fun at the clingier aspects of Justin Bieber's single "Boyfriend." The original lyrics are a little creepy - "If I was your boyfriend, never let you go / Keep you on my arm girl, you'd never be alone."
Lana Morris, a YouTuber, decided to do a parody song called "Girlfriend" in which she made fun of how incredibly clingy J. Biebs sounded in his song. A still from the newly dubbed "Overly Attached Girlfriend's" YouTube video went viral in 2012, and never slowed down. Fortunately, Laina Morris has been able to capitalize on the meme and build a career around it.
Bad Luck Brian
When Kyle Craven's friend posted a yearbook outtake photo of his to Reddit, things got very real, very quickly. The photo in question was actually taken as a joke. In an interview with the Washington Post, Kyle said that “Picture days were always fun days for me,” and that he rubbed his face to make it red, squinted his eyes, puffed out his jaw and took what he thought would be a funny photo. Little did he know that a goof like that would make him Internet famous a few years later.
Hipster Barista
Dustin Mattson is still pretty angry about becoming a meme - which is funny, because of course the Hipster Barista would be mad about being turned into something so mainstream.
It turns out that Mattson is an actual hipster barista. He's super unhappy about the fact that grown men who make latte art for a living aren't taken more seriously. In an interview with the Atlanta Eater he said, "I do find it discouraging and disappointing that there was so much exposure brought to an attempt at making a joke of a culinary industry and the professional barista. To me, it's very telling on how we laud farm-to-table food, craft beer, cocktail mixology, but it's ok to have no respect for the specialty coffee world and the people who are committed to it." Somehow, this quote made his face ten times more punchable.
Success Kid
When a photo of Laney Griner's son Sammy became one of the most popular web memes ever, she wasn't happy. But a few years later, she used the unwanted popularity of the meme to help raise $100,000 for her husband's dialysis, and to pay for his kidney transplant. See? The Internet isn't all bad.
Stop Girl
The "Stop Girl" meme all started at a college football game. During a 2010 game between the University of Arizona and Iowa, Sarah - the student who would soon become Stop Girl - had a camera trained on her as she watched the game in agony. Her request that the camera man stop filming her lead to a bunch of weirdos on Reddit falling in love with her. Sarah is understandably weirded out by the whole thing, and hopes that she can put the Internet's fascination with her in the rearview.
Attractive Convict
In 2010, Meagan Mccullough was arrested for a DUI. Three years later, her mugshot made its way to Reddit, where basement-dwellers the world over fell in love with her stunning good looks. A bunch of dudes contacted Mccullough, and professed their undying devotion to her. However, this hot criminal is kind of over that mugshot photo. She even said, "I don't think it's that good a picture - there are other ones I would prefer."
Overly Attached Girlfriend and the Kid That Needs to Fart
Apparently they went to the same high school.