Art & Culture

Looking Back at the Defining Pop Culture Moments of 2023 In Memes

BYKhaoula Ghanem

December 26, 2023

Congratulations on (almost) another tour around the sun! I think I speak for everyone when I say that 2023 was a very turbulent year, plagued by war, conflict, and overall bad vibes. While the year got off to a promising start, it wasn’t long until the world descended into total chaos, with every other headline seemingly worse than the one before it. At least when it came to pop culture, it wasn’t all bad. There was a number of fleeting memorable moments tucked beneath the turmoil that ultimately shaped the year as we know it. And if there’s anything you can always count on people to do, it’s to meme-ify every headline that emerges, no matter how serious– or mundane. Indeed, whenever there is something happening in the world you can bet the internet isn’t far behind with memes. In addition to being a simple way of adding a much-needed dose of humor to our morning news, in recent years, memes have also evolved into practically another medium of conveying and receiving information– especially for the chronically online (I personally will never forget the one user who tweeted that he only found out Queen Elizabeth died after he saw a picture of half her and late rapper XXXTentacion’s faces side-by-side). As we prepare to finally close the chapter on 2023 for good, we look back at all of the major pop culture happenings that defined this year in, you guessed it, memes.

January

Prince Harry’s memoir ‘Spare’

In his forthcoming memoir, Prince Harry writes about seeing Meghan in a bonnet for the first time. “From that moment, I knew I wanted to protect her the way satin protects her hair afro hair.” pic.twitter.com/dpfD6OVTm0

— I Could’ve Just Sat On In With Massa (@WrittenByHanna) January 5, 2023

Prince Harry’s memoir Spare was released at the very begining of the year, recounting several key moments over the course of his life, including his grief over his mother’s death and rocky relationship with his family. But leave it to the internet to make a joke out of the whole thing.

Shakira dumped Gerard Pique over a jar of jam

Shakira’s jam watching Piqué’s mistress reach for the jar pic.twitter.com/vhi0l99wTf

— Samuel Stirling (@samjstirling) January 23, 2023

Twitter had a field day when reports suggested that Shakira found out her former husband Gerard Pique was cheating on her over some missing strawberry jam.

February

Mystery Chinese spy balloon

The military just shot down my gender reveal balloon, wtf?

— Kevin Sussman (kevsussman on threads) (@KevinSussman) February 4, 2023

While the US and China clashed over an alleged “Chinese spy balloon,” the internet became inundated with memes about the event.

May

King Charles’ Coronation

me wearing my expensive online purchases only to realize the horrifying void is still in me pic.twitter.com/DQE2ejcgc0

— derek guy (@dieworkwear) May 6, 2023

“73-year-old man finally gets job” was perhaps the best way to summarize the coronation.

A cockroach steals the show at the MET Gala

the cockroach enjoying a meal at the #MetGala pic.twitter.com/dOZqsWECaG

— Patrønus [lll] (@FerPafri) May 2, 2023

At this year’s Met Gala, a single cockroach was seen on the exclusive red carpet, before it unfortunately met its demise before making it inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The video of the roach scurrying across the carpet went viral on social media, causing a riot on Twitter.

June

Orca Attacks

Yemen 🫱🏽‍🫲🏿 orcas
fucking ships up

— afropessimism apologist (@queendurag) December 24, 2023

2023 saw an increase in incidents of orcas targeting, slamming into, and even sinking some vessels. Naturally, the internet took the side of the marine animals, with the memes and discourse regarding the orcas’ actions as revolutionary.

The missing Titanic tour submersible

‘I have nothing to say but eat the rich’ https://t.co/TU8tOjC3qn pic.twitter.com/S97WRWc8EV

— Leah Dionne (@leahdionne__) June 20, 2023

Although in poor taste, Twitter had a field day when the Oceangate submersible carrying a group of thrill-seeking billionaires who paid a quarter of a million dollars to explore the Titanic wreckage went missing. Some users even suggested that the orcas were responsible for sinking the submarine.

‘The Idol’ being trash

HBO Sunday nights going from Succession to The Idol pic.twitter.com/Al1DoWi3fo

— Aaron Serna (@AaronSerna) June 5, 2023

In June, Sam Levinson’s hotly-anticipated series, The Idol, premiered on HBO and it was a stinking pile of garbage. Fortunately, the memes were much better than the show.

July

‘Barbenheimer’

Me on Barbenheimer day pic.twitter.com/C1PjXrj8wU

— Wreath Ascolese 🎄🏳️‍🌈 (@PeteAscolese) July 10, 2023

Arguably the two biggest movies of the year, Barbie and Oppenheimer, released on the same day. The two films, which couldn’t be more different to eachother, became collectively known as “Barbenheimer,” spawning oh so many memes.

“That Mother*** is not real” Lady

The person she’s talking about https://t.co/kDzecibA3a pic.twitter.com/lnj9uHyjyl

— Fudge (@Danfudge) July 3, 2023

The viral video of a woman having an apparent outburst on a plane and accusing another passenger of being “not real” was perhaps one of the biggest memes of 2023.

August

Donald Trump’s mugshot is released

This is how mfs start looking at you after they lose their vape pic.twitter.com/hTIgsm52Zy

— Jacqueline (@jaxajueny) August 25, 2023

Former US president Donald Trump’s mugshot flooded the internet in the hours after he turned himself in to authorities in Fulton County, Georgia, and obviously people turned it into a meme.

September

Aliens presented at Mexican congress

Mexico’s Aliens when they arrive to Houston, Texas 💀 pic.twitter.com/MPlJBEJW4k

— Plathanos 🐝 🇩🇴 (@SavinTheBees) September 14, 2023

In September, an individual named Jaime Maussan presented two so-called “alien corpses” to the Mexican congress, becoming the perfect fodder for an online meme fest.

October

Jada Pinkett-Smith gets roasted… again

Jada Pinkett reveals she was in the backseat.

When the bullets started flying, she was heard screaming, “🗣Take Will Smith instead” pic.twitter.com/txQQ6Yxg0t

— Cali Tha Beast (@BeastWithAMic) October 14, 2023

Poor Jada, it seems like she never catch a break. The actress was the brunt of social media jokes once again after her emotionally-charged confession about legendary rapper Tupac Shakur proposing to her while he was incarcerated.

Paris’s bedbug infestation

them bedbugs catching free flights around the world after paris fashion week pic.twitter.com/J2pmTIoxiM

— hc (@lifebyhc) October 2, 2023

A bedbug infestation plagued Paris while influencers, celebrities, and models from around the globe were in town for Paris Fashion Week, sparking international fears of a wider spread of the vermin— as well as many memes.

Stock photo of Kevin James goes viral

“yo my homie thinks you cute”

the homie: pic.twitter.com/DGLMiqvbvG

— juju 💰 (@ayeejuju) September 24, 2023

Although not exactly a news story, the photo of American comedian Kevin James awkwardly smiling with his hands in his pocket shaped up to be the most Googled meme in 2023.

meme

Looking Back at the Defining Pop Culture Moments of 2023 In Memes

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October

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Looking Back at the Defining Pop Culture Moments of 2023 In Memes

January

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