Posted by Michael Jordan is one of, if not the greatest basketball player to ever walk this earth, but his play isn’t the only mark he left on this world. In 2009, Micheal Jordan was inducted into the NBA hall of fame, and during his extremely emotional induction speech he was seen with tears streaming down his blushed face. A short time after, the internet began their notorious creation of Meme’s, and you better believe Jordan’s crying face was one of the most famous. In the Spring of 2015, Jordan’s crying face was all over social media with creators making thousands of variations of the meme.
Jordan’s crying face is usually used in the sports meme world, and it often relates to the concept of losing. The humorous variations of the Jordan Meme are most often seen in the sports world today considering Jordans relevance in sports. In recent years, the manipulation of the meme has taken off and sports fans around the world have most likely seen their team or favorite player used as a variation of the Jordan meme after an eventful loss or slip up in a game. One of the most famous variations of the meme(shown on the right) was used on NBA superstar James Harden. Creators humorlessly took advantage of James Harden’s struggle with beating the Golden State Warriors and applied it to his famous facial hair feature, the beard.
Even though Michael Jordan’s crying meme would make the most sense to sports fan’s, his crying face is regularly used as a symbol for defeat and sorrow. It would also be very difficult to find a person with access to the internet who did not know who Michael Jordan is. Anyway, creators across the internet have used the Jordan Crying meme for almost anything tied to defeat. One example that is relevant today is shown to the right. The election has been one of the most relevant topics in the United States, and creators have taken full advantage of their opportunity to make a mockery out of Donald Trump and his recent defeat.
As Michael Jordan’s meme continued to grow fame, recent events have unearthed a second crying Jordan meme. On February 24, 2020 Michael Jordan gave another emotional speech following the loss of his friend and basketball legend Kobe Bryant and Kobe’s daughter Gigi. During Jordans speech he began to cry and stopped his speech and addressed the Jordan crying meme he knew would be made about him. Jordan states in tears but with a little smile, “I’ll have to look at crying memes for…”. Even Though the crowd was struggling with the loss of Kobe and Gigi Bryant, the recognition Jordan gave the meme gave them a humorous escape from the situation.
As the creation of memes continues to take off all over the internet, some memes will never lose their relevance, especially to a certain group of people. The Michael Jordan crying meme will forever be one of the most famous memes ever, and not exclusively in the sports world. Creators will continue to utilize the crying face in videos, pictures, and Gifs all over the internet.