Celebrities have feelings too: How these famous actors and singers reacted after becoming memes

A picture says a thousands words goes the saying, but these days it’s more like it can spark a thousand, or millions, of memes. Awkward or clumsy moments, photos taken out of context or just plain photoshopping can turn into fodder for viral social media content.

While some people have been able to take it in stride, for others it can be emotionally hard, whether the person is anonymous or famous. In the case of the latter, given that they are constantly in the spotlight, they’ve been able to share what it feels like to become a meme.

Finding the humor in becoming a meme

It’s easier for some to shrug off becoming a meme, especially depending on how their image is being used.

That’s the case for Kevin James, star of King of Queens, who told Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show when asked about his image being used as a meme replied laughingly: “It’s so dumb.” Last year, a goofy picture that a photographer took of James when the show was just starting, which was supposed to be buried, resurfaced. The picture has now been used for a wide range of memes, even in an attempt to throw off a field-goal kicker during a football game.

Ben Affleck has spoken openly about his ‘Sad Affleck’ meme, which went viral in 2016, on several occasions, calling it “funny.” He explained to the LA Times that “there’s nobody who hasn’t felt that way at a junket.” His only concern is that his kids might think he is fundamentally sad or if they need to worry about him. “That’s really tough.”

It’s not fun and games if someone’s getting hurt

Other celebrities haven’t taken becoming a meme so light-heartedly. Especially when the memes have made fun of their appearance or been used for more sinister purposes.

A good example of this is Chloë Grace Moretz, who spoke out about how personal issues like body dysmorphia can be extrapolated by social media, which she said can really mess with people’s heads. She shared her experience with the “onslaught of horrific memes” around her physical appearance, especially one based on a photo of her carrying a pizza box into a hotel.

“This photo got manipulated into a character from Family Guy with the long legs and the short torso,” she shared with Hunger Magazine. “Everyone was making fun of my body and I brought it up with someone and they were like, ‘Oh, shut the F-up, it’s funny.’ And I just remember sitting there and thinking, my body is being used as a joke and it’s something that I can’t change about who I am.”

“It was something so benign as walking into a hotel with leftovers. And to this day, when I see that meme, it’s something very hard for me to overcome,” she added “After that, I was kind of sad. It took a layer of something that I used to enjoy, which was getting dressed up and going to a carpet and taking a photo, and made me super self-conscious.”

Millie Bobby Brown: taking the meme bullies head on

When she was just 14 years old, images of Millie Bobby Brown were used to spread homophobic messages creating backlash against the ‘Stranger Things’ actress and caused her to switch off her Twitter account and suspend public comments on her Instagram account. At the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards she took the meme bullies head on in her acceptance speech for the Best Performance in a Show award.

“Since I know there are many young people watching this—and even to the adults, too —they could probably use the reminder that I was taught: If you don’t have anything nice to say, just don’t say it," she said. “There should be no space in this world for bullying, and I’m not going to tolerate it, and neither should any of you.”

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