7 celebrities who accidentally became memes

Celebrities have always been used to making headlines - but thanks to the age of the internet, they can go viral for the most random reasons.

Whether it's a being tearful, a hilarious pose or looking bored out of their mind, stars can become the perfect meme template and earn themselves a place in an online hall of fame.

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What's more, their reaction to becoming the latest meme can sometimes be just as entertaining as the original joke itself.

Here is a list of different celebrities who became unexpected:

Ben Affleck

CBS/YouTube

When it comes to inadvertently becoming a meme, Ben Affleck has proven he has range - (though now we kind of expect them).

From Sad Affleck (2016) to Exhausted Affleck smoking a cigarette (late 2016) to Dunkin' Donuts Affleck juggling his coffee order (2020) and Content Affleck snoozing on a boat in Paris (2022), the actor has a timeline of memes about him.

The most recent occasion the actor became a meme was at the 2023 Grammy Awards for appearing bored as he sat beside his wife Jennifer Lopez at the event on February 6,

Here's to more Affleck memes in the future.

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan became an unexpected meme back in 2009Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Everyone can appreciate a man that's in touch with his emotions, but for Michael Jordan, this appreciation came in a meme format.

The infamous photo of the legendary basketball player was snapped in 2009 by Associated Press photographer Stephan Savoia, who captured a tearful Jordan as he prepared to deliver his Hall of Fame speech.

Since then, the image has been used by people to convey their sadness.

In 2020, Jordan referenced the meme when he gave an emotional speech at Kobe Bryant’s public memorial service.

"Now he’s got me. I’m going to have to look at another crying meme for the next…" he said, prompting a huge applause.

Chrissy Teigen

At award ceremonies, winners and their loved ones can be overcome with emotion - and in Chrissy Teigen's case her tearful reaction to her husband and singer-songwriter John Legend winning an Oscar in 2015 for "Best Original Song" for his track "Glory" in the film Selma, caused her to go viral.

Teigen responded to the reaction by tweeting that she didn't have a chance to practice her "cry face" and was aware that she had become a meme.

She and Legend also had a joke about it on Instagram when they both recreated the meme.

Emma Roberts

A video at the beach of Emma Roberts spurred some hilarious reactions when she posted it to Instagram.

The Scream actor posed on the beach wearing a green top while swaying to Lana Del Rey’s “Happiness Is a Butterfly”.

At the end of the clip, Roberts, 30, sticks out her tongue and rolls her eyes in a playful way.

Her video prompted people to create funny captions for the clip such as "Nobody:, The movie detective’s dead wife in a home video."

Roberts was clearly a fan of the response as she liked and retweeted many memes. She also acknowledged that she had gone viral and said: “Thank you gays and whoever else.”

Keanu Reeves

Keanu shared how his "Sad Keanu" photo occurredThe Stephen Colbert Show

We all love Keanu Reeves, and it's only natural that he became a meme at one point.

In this case, it was a paparazzi photo of him looking very sad while sat on a bench.

Speaking on the Stephen Colbert show, the actor revealed the backstory behind the image when the talk show host brought the photo out.

"I'm just eating a sandwich, man!" he explained to which Colbert asked, "So, you're not actually sad in 'Sad Keanu'?"

"I was thinking," Keanu replied. "I had some stuff going on. I was hungry."

The photo became an artistic inspiration in the first volume of the comic book BRZRKR, which Colbert also showed on the show.

"I didn't know he was going to do that, but that's what he did," Keanu stated. "So, I think it's kind of meta. That's life in art."

When Keanu was asked why he's a popular meme, he had the best response: "I have no clue, sir… Really."

Kris Jenner

Last year, a bait-and-switch trend took over TikTok that used an old video of Kris Jenner and it's called "getting krissed".

It saw fake celebrity gossip being posted to draw people in then suddenly cut to an old video of Jenner with a sped-up version of the song 'Lady Marmalade' playing.

The video of Jenner is from a homemade music video made by the Kardashian family. The family made the music video to Lady Marmalade in 2011 while shooting their annual Christmas card photo.

Jenner gave a truly iconic response to the "you got Krissed" TikTok trend - and had people fooled for a moment by jokingly announcing she's running for president in 2024.

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep's cheering on Debbie Reynolds was deemed memeworthySAG Awards

She's an acting icon, but Meryl Streep also achieved meme status when she was filmed cheering on Debbie Reynolds who received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award ceremony in 2015.

The image quickly became the perfect template for people to post alongside their favourite song lyrics they like to sing along to.

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