Does #CryingLeBron join other meme greats like #tealizard, #CryingJordan and #smockin / the mask? Tweet us! pic.twitter.com/4xoDahAk1Q
— Good Morning America (@GMA) June 21, 2016
In case you’ve been living under an e-rock, let me try to catch you up. On Monday night, the internet declared Crying LeBron the new Crying Jordan meme, because a man achieved a goal he set for himself in life and expressed emotion about it; how dare he. Then on Monday morning, the Twitter account for Good Morning America tweeted the above beautiful, beautiful tweet about it, equating Crying LeBron to other great memes like #tealizard, referring to the Lipton commercial starring Kermit the frog which is frequently turned into GIFs and posted on internet comment threads to covey a sentiment along the lines of, “But that’s none of my business.” (GMA also aired a segment Tuesday about the LeBron crying memes.)
And people on Twitter Lost. Their. Dang. Minds.
"What if I really am a lizard?" #TeaLizard pic.twitter.com/UO8lN7MCkn
— BigHeadBS💨 (@BigHeadBS) June 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/Alexse123/status/745226303561949184
https://twitter.com/libbycwatson/status/745237543881416704
https://twitter.com/bobbyfinger/status/745225931866808324
#tealizard is KERMIT THE FUCKING FROG PUT SOME RESPECK ON HIS NAME https://t.co/SbRaM7PnNF
— Mace #ALLHUMANNOGUM (@yungmacedgod) June 21, 2016
Lmao #tealizard. Do you even Internet? https://t.co/ExqdP9le5z
— Craig Stokes (@craigoriah) June 21, 2016
@GMA pic.twitter.com/PGA7BMgDYF
— John W (@jwalaszek) June 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/ManuclearBomb/status/745235855749570560
All of us discussing whether some evil genius at @GMA created #tealizard intentionally pic.twitter.com/EaLbHRXJSE
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) June 21, 2016
Of course, as it turns out #TeaLizard was very much the work of an evil genius; an evil genius who goes by Jeff D. Lowe, the social media editor for GMA, who often tweets things like this from the show’s official account:
69 DAYS UNTIL SUMMER! ☀️ 🏖 pic.twitter.com/61HmOsaC2l
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 13, 2016
So yes, not only was Jeff very much in on the joke — which I believe originated from a random 2010 tweet retweeted by the parody account @trillballins (who originally coined the term “tea lizard) — but much of the internet, including several media outlets, fell for it. Maybe even you!
Eventually the joke meme became an actual meme, with the line between those laughing at the tweet and those laughing with the tweet becoming fairly muddied. In other words, welcome to the internet.
https://twitter.com/JimmyDonofrio/status/745277098462420992
New Muppets movie dropping soon #tealizard pic.twitter.com/Wrnv4pgV1B
— The Ringer (@ringer) June 21, 2016
If you don't know about #TeaLizard and #smockin now is time to get on board the meme train pic.twitter.com/0e5dx6TUmq
— Godzilla Shammgodzilla (@FanSince09) June 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/JimmyDonofrio/status/745270881593757696