An “unflattering” picture of Beyoncé performing at the Super Bowl’s halftime show has transformed into a meme rivaling McKayla Maroney’s now-iconic “Not Impressed” scowl.
After Beyoncé’s publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, emailed Buzzfeed earlier this week to ask that the site “respectfully change” several images of her client to “some better photos” from the halftime show, her attempt backfired in epic proportions.
Buzzfeed published the email, and in the Internet phenomenon known as the Streisand Effect, one image in particular circulated so virulently it became an instant meme.
The original seven images that Yvette Noel-Schure asked Buzzfeed to remove were included in a list of “The 33 Fiercest Moments From Beyoncé’s Halftime Show”.
Yvette Noel-Schure wrote: “As discussed, there are some unflattering photos on your current feed that we are respectfully asking you to change.
“I am certain you will be able to find some better photos. The worst are #5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 19 and 22.”
Since the email became public on Monday, internet users have been trying to come up with ways to make Beyoncé’s “unflattering” facial expressions even more unflattering via Reddit and other social media platforms.
An “unflattering” picture of Beyoncé performing at the Super Bowl’s halftime show has transformed into a meme
So far, Beyoncé has been turned into a bloody zombie, a “She Hulk”, Conan’s wife, and an Olympic weightlifter.
More creative types have created GIFs dedicated to her “fierce” poses.
One in particular shows Beyoncé’s limbs contracting into her torso, before she shoots off like a turtle with a rocket launcher attached to her leather bodysuit.
And another puts dumbbells in Beyoncé’s hands, reinventing her as a bodybuilder.
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The first world’s cats film festival will celebrate next month the internet phenomenon of sharing cute videos of viral felines .
The Internet Cat Video Film Festival is set to take place on August 30 in Minneapolis, in the US.
The event is described as a chance for people to come together and “LOL [laugh out loud] in the presence of others”.
Organizer Katie Czarniecki Hill said fans had until July 30 to nominate their favorite clips to be shown.
“I could not be more excited to literally bring this solo cat video viewing behavior out in the open,” Katie Czarniecki Hill wrote in a blog post announcing the event.
The Internet Cat Video Film Festival is set to take place on August 30 in Minneapolis
“Traditionally, we send these viral gems to one another via email or share them through various social media outlets.
“Some viewers (yours truly included) spend precious free time trolling the interwebs for hilarious 30-second clips of feline tomfoolery.”
Videos of cats online have come to symbolize the internet community’s fondness for amusing quick-hit entertainment.
Stand-out examples include Keyboard Cat, a clip originally recorded in 1984 showing a cat “playing” a tune on the keyboard.
It was uploaded to YouTube in 2007, and has since had over 25 million views.
Thousands of remixes and reversions of the clip have seen it immortalized further, with even a dedicated website following its use.
Aside from videos, cats also feature heavily in humorous images emailed and shared around the web.
I Can Haz Cheezburger is a blog dedicated to adding captions to pictures of cats, often adding human traits and emotions to the animals.
The site, which is said to receive more than a million hits every day, was sold in 2007 for a reported $2 million.
It has since evolved into the Cheezburger Network, a collection of other sites based on a similar format. Its owners raised $30 million in funding from investors last year.
One viral video expert says that cat videos would always remain popular among internet users.
“At some stage in the early internet it was just discovered that if you animate any kind of image of a kitten doing a dance then it was a universal language of joy,” said Ed Robinson, creative director at London-based agency The Viral Factory.
“It works across all cultures, all languages… and we are genetically tuned to have an emotional response to cute animals.”
While dogs have enjoyed considerable viral success – a “talking” dog was the most viewed YouTube clip in the UK last year – some say cats rule the internet.
“There are theories that dogs are making a resurgence,” added Rd Robinson.
“They’ve been busy chasing sticks – but the cats have been at the forefront of the cultural movement.
“The internet loves the idea that cats are in the know.
“They’ve got the answer, and they might just tell us some day.”
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Lion King-ing, the latest internet phenomenon, sees pet owners around the world lifting their animals above their head.
The phenomenon, copying a famous scene from the film The Lion King, follows other such memes as planking, owling and Tebowing.
The videos take their inspiration from the famous scene in the beginning of The Lion King where the wise mandrill Rafiki presents the young Simba to the herd.
In the movie, the Elton John “Circle of Life” song is heard, and many of the online videos have the same music.
“I think that everyone with a cat or a small dog has done it before,” said Jeff Wysaski, a blogger on Pleated-jeans.com who made a viral video of the phenomenon from clips other pet owners had posted on YouTube.
“I checked on YouTube, and, lo and behold, there were a ton of videos of people doing it. I thought it would be funny to put them together.
“I think most people don’t talk about it, but when you bring it up other cat owners, they’re like, <<I do that>>, <<I have done that>.”
Lion King-ing, the latest internet phenomenon, sees pet owners around the world lifting their animals above their head
Jeff Wysaski admitted he “Lion Kings” his own tabby cat.
“She’s not too happy about it,” he said.
“A lot of the animals are … just putting up with us and our ridiculousness.”
Lion King-ing is the latest internet phenomenon to join the ranks of planking, Tebowing and owling.
Planking involved people posting pictures of themselves lying flat in random places for no apparent reason.
Tebowing took its name from the Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, who dropped to one knee and paused with a hand resting on his forehead as he prayed during a game.
Images soon starting spring up all over the internet of people pulling the exact same pose.
Owling consisted of people crouching on their haunches and staring into the middle distance, like an owl.
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