It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly three months since the world lost Harambe, the gorilla most people were previously unaware existed until the fateful day a small child fell into the gorilla enclosure and zookeepers were forced to make the difficult decision to shoot and kill him. (Harambe, obviously, not the boy.)
After the death of Harambe, the public went through an interesting cycle. The first stage was of grief and outrage, with many calling for the boy’s parents to be charged. Then people moved onto memorializing the slain gorilla. And at some point, somehow the tributes turned into memes, jokes, and petitions — such as this one to change the name of the Cincinnati Bengals to the Cincinnati Harambes — as images began popping up of Harambe sitting on a cloud in heaven with a halo over his head, sometimes accompanied by Cecil the Lion.
What is it about a beloved, deceased gorilla that people find so funny? Even taking the fickle attention span of the internet into consideration, The Independent reports that searches for Harambe are still about the same as they were the first week of June, when the news initially broke. But the Cincinnati Zoo thinks Harambe’s death is no laughing matter, and would like for the jokes and memes to stop now, please and thank you.
“We are not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe,” Thane Maynard, Cincinnati Zoo director, told the Associated Press. “Our zoo family is still healing, and the constant mention of Harambe makes moving forward more difficult for us. We are honoring Harambe by redoubling our gorilla conservation efforts and encouraging others to join us.”
James Leggate, web editor for Cincinnati’s WCPO-TV, recently started his own petition asking people to stop Harambe petitions.
“At first, the petitioners had good intentions,” he wrote. “But then the goofuses of the Internet hopped on the Harambe train for their jollies, and it has gotten out of control.”
You heard the man, goofuses of the Internet, enough is enough. Okay, maybe just one more, but then definitely stop it.
https://twitter.com/CauseWereGuys/status/767506725335359488
(Via The Independent)