Roll Safe

Last updated

The original image which originated the internet meme. Roll Safe meme.jpg
The original image which originated the internet meme.

Roll Safe is an Internet meme. In the meme, British filmmaker and actor Kayode Ewumi, while portraying the character Reece Simpson (also known as Roll Safe) in Ewumi's web series Hood Documentary, is seen tapping his finger on his head. The images are often captioned with various jokes mocking poor decision making and failures in critical thinking. [1]

The episode was published in June 2016 and, months later, was used as a reaction image by some British Twitter accounts. In late January 2017, its popularity increased drastically, especially on the Black Twitter community. [1] Khal of Complex declared it was "the New Petty Meme for 2017", [2] Desire Thompson of Vibe said it was "The Best Way To Kick Off Black History Month", [3] and "robopanda" of Yahoo said the meme "Is Here To Give You The Best Worst Advice". [4]

It was included on many best 2017 memes lists, including Thrillist, [5] Complex, [6] BuzzFeed News, [7] The Daily Dot, [8] Insider , [9] BBC News, [10] PCMag , [11] Washington Post , [12] PopBuzz , [13] and MTV UK. [14] The Reddit moderators of the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit told Inverse that they thought it was one of the best memes of 2017. [15]

It was a finalist in the 10th Shorty Awards. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reddit</span> American social news and discussion site

Reddit is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and forum social network. Registered users submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images, and videos, which are then voted up or down by other members. Posts are organized by subject into user-created boards called "communities" or "subreddits". Submissions with more upvotes appear towards the top of their subreddit and, if they receive enough upvotes, ultimately on the site's front page. Reddit administrators moderate the communities. Moderation is also conducted by community-specific moderators, who are not Reddit employees. It is operated by Reddit Inc., based in San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rickrolling</span> Internet prank and meme

Rickrolling or a Rickroll is an Internet meme involving the unexpected appearance of the music video to the 1987 hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up", performed by English singer Rick Astley. The aforementioned video has over 1.5 billion views on YouTube. The meme is a type of bait and switch, usually using a disguised hyperlink that leads to the music video. When one clicks on a seemingly unrelated link, the site with the music video loads instead of what was expected, and they have been "Rickrolled". The meme has also extended to using the song's lyrics, or singing it, in unexpected contexts. Astley himself has also been Rickrolled on several occasions.

<i>Know Your Meme</i> Website and video series documenting Internet memes and online phenomena

Know Your Meme (KYM) is a website and video series which uses wiki software to document various Internet memes and other online phenomena, such as viral videos, image macros, catchphrases, Internet celebrities and more. It also investigates new and changing memes through research, as it commercializes on the culture. Originally produced by Rocketboom, the website was acquired in March 2011 by Cheezburger Network, which, in 2016, was acquired by Literally Media. Know Your Meme includes sections for confirmed, submitted, deadpooled, researching, and popular memes.

Some communities on the social news site Reddit are devoted to explicit, violent, or hateful material, and have been the topic of controversy. Controversial Reddit communities sometimes receive significant media coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hector Janse van Rensburg</span> British artist and redditor

Hector Richard Janse van Rensburg, better known by his pseudonym Shitty Watercolour, is a British painter and cartoonist who started posting watercolour paintings on the social media website Reddit in February 2012, and later expanded to publishing his work on his own website, on Tumblr and on Twitter. He graduated from the University of York with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doge (meme)</span> Internet meme

Doge is an Internet meme that became popular in 2013. The meme consists of a picture of a Shiba Inu dog, accompanied by multicolored text in Comic Sans font in the foreground. The text, representing a kind of internal monologue, is deliberately written in a form of broken English. The meme most frequently uses an image of a Shiba Inu named Kabosu, though versions with other Shiba Inus are also popular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernie Sanders' Dank Meme Stash</span> Facebook group supporting US Senator Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders' Dank Meme Stash is a Facebook group where members previously shared and discussed Internet memes relating to American politician and United States senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders. Sanders was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as the 2020 U.S. presidential election. This page is still active on Facebook with over 273,000 followers as of 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dat Boi</span> Meme of a frog riding a unicycle

Dat Boi is an Internet meme originating from the clip art website Animation Factory. The meme garnered popularity on Tumblr in 2015 before gaining more recognition through Twitter in 2016. It is usually accompanied by a person saying "here come dat boi".

r/The_Donald Subreddit in support of U.S. president Donald Trump

r/The_Donald was a subreddit where participants created discussions and Internet memes in support of U.S. president Donald Trump. Initially created in June 2015 following the announcement of Trump's presidential campaign, the community grew to over 790,000 subscribers who described themselves as "Patriots". The community was banned in June 2020 for violating Reddit rules on harassment and targeting. It was ranked as one of the most active communities on Reddit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Wurtz</span> American musician, animator, and internet personality

Bill Wurtz is an American musician, singer-songwriter, animator, video editor, and internet personality. He is known for his distinctive musical, comedic, and narrative style which includes calm, deadpan delivery and singing paired with colorful surrealist, psychedelic, and non-sequitur graphics.

In Internet culture, a Milkshake Duck is a person who gains popularity on social media for some positive or charming trait but is later revealed to have a distasteful history or to engage in offensive behavior. The term has been connected to cancel culture, a perceived trend of call-out culture on social media, sometimes resulting in celebrities being ostracized and careers abruptly derailed by publicized misconduct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabbie Hanna</span> American Internet personality and musician (born 1991)

Gabrielle Jeannette Hanna is an American Internet personality and singer-songwriter. She rose to prominence on the video platforms Vine and YouTube before releasing her debut single, "Out Loud", in 2017. Her debut extended play, 2WayMirror, was released on May 31, 2019, and her second EP, Bad Karma, was released on May 15, 2020. Her debut album, Trauma Queen, was released on July 22, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Distracted boyfriend</span> Stock photograph and internet meme

Distracted boyfriend is an Internet meme based on a 2015 stock photograph by Spanish photographer Antonio Guillem. Social media users started using the image as a meme at the start of 2017, and it went viral in August 2017 as a way to depict different forms of disloyalty. The meme has inspired various spin-offs and received critical acclaim.

r/wallstreetbets Subreddit dedicated to stock market and options trading

r/wallstreetbets, also known as WallStreetBets or WSB, is a subreddit where participants discuss stock and option trading. It has become notable for its colorful and profane jargon, aggressive trading strategies, and for playing a major role in the GameStop short squeeze that caused losses for some US firms and short sellers in a few days in early 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woman yelling at a cat</span> Internet meme

Woman yelling at a cat is an Internet meme first used in a post by Twitter user @MISSINGEGIRL on May 1, 2019. It juxtaposes two images: on the left, a screen capture of "Malibu Beach Party from Hell", an episode from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, depicting cast member Taylor Armstrong crying and pointing ; and a picture uploaded to Tumblr in June 2018, depicting a cat from Ottawa, Ontario, Smudge, sitting at a dinner table behind a salad with a seemingly confused expression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brittany Broski</span> American social media personality (born 1997)

Brittany Alexis Tomlinson, known professionally as Brittany Broski, is an American social media personality, YouTuber, and comedian. She initially gained fame after a video of her tasting kombucha for the first time went viral on TikTok in 2019. She signed to United Talent Agency later that year and has since hosted the TikTok-produced podcast For You (2021), the pop culture-focused podcasts Violating Community Guidelines (2022–2023) with Sarah Schauer and The Broski Report (2023–present), and the YouTube talk show Royal Court (2023–present). She has frequently been referred to as one of TikTok's biggest stars and noted for her meme-focused humor.

Is this a Pigeon? is an Internet meme and memorable quote of the protagonist character from the 1990s Japanese anime TV series The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird scene where the humanoid character mistakes a butterfly as a pigeon. The image was originally posted on Tumblr and later the meme spread with other variations.

iFunny is a humor-based website and mobile application developed by Cyprus-based FunCorp, an entertainment technology company, that consists of memes in the form of images, videos, and animated GIFs submitted by its users. The mobile version of the site once featured a built-in meme creator tool. The app describes itself as a "community for meme lovers and viral memes around the internet."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman Cain Award</span> Ironic award related to COVID-19

The Herman Cain Award is an ironic award given to people who expressed hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccines or face masks, who later died from COVID-19 or its complications. The award is named after American businessman and political figure Herman Cain, a Republican politician who died of COVID-19 complications after attending a 2020 Trump Tulsa rally in support of then-President Donald Trump without wearing a face mask. He'd publicly tweeted the disease was not deadly and discouraged people from taking it seriously. A text label which says "Awarded" is emblazoned on the conversation thread containing evidence and community discussions of a third party's anti-COVID mitigation positions and their subsequent death.

References

  1. 1 2 Feldman, Brian (February 9, 2017). "How Roll Safe (You Know, the Guy Tapping His Head) Took Over Your Timeline". Intelligencer. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  2. "Roll Safe Is the New Petty Meme for 2017". Complex. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  3. Thompson, Desire (February 3, 2017). "The "Roll Safe" Meme Is The Best Way To Kick Off Black History Month". VIBE.com. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  4. "The 'Roll Safe' Meme Is Here To Give You The Best Worst Advice". Yahoo!. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  5. "The 50 Best Memes of 2017". Thrillist . February 13, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  6. "The Best Memes of 2017". Complex. Archived from the original on April 30, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  7. "38 Great Memes That Defined 2017". BuzzFeed News . December 15, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  8. "The 65 best memes of 2017 (and counting)". The Daily Dot. February 1, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  9. Shamsian, Jacob. "20 moments that went viral and dominated the internet this year". Insider . Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  10. "The top memes and viral videos of 2017". BBC News . December 29, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  11. "Distracted Boyfriend to Salt Bae: 2017's Best Memes". PCMag . Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  12. "Trending: Meme Hall of Fame of 2017". Washington Post . Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  13. "The Best Memes Of 2017". PopBuzz . Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  14. "All The Best Memes Of 2017". MTV UK . Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  15. Paoletta, Rae (December 26, 2017). "Reddit Moderators Reveal The Best Memes of 2017, And The Ones That Must Die". Inverse . Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  16. "Roll Safe - The Shorty Awards". Shorty Awards . Retrieved August 29, 2021.