Introduction

The Just Found Out About Racism meme features images of men displaying expressions of shock or dismay, often paired with humorous captions that comment on various social issues.

Background

The phrase 'Just Found Out About Racism' is a commonly used caption for images depicting men in distressed or surprised states. One of the most recognized iterations shows a shirtless man on a bed gazing at the camera, which adds a layer of flirtation and irony. This template has gained traction as users substitute 'racism' with other societal topics or pop culture references.

Where It Started

The meme originated on April 15, 2019, when Twitter user @notdevito shared a photo of a man with a sad expression holding a beer, captioning it, 'Just found out about racism…damn that shit sucks…' This initial post garnered over 1,500 retweets and 6,900 likes within just a month, marking the beginning of the meme's popularity.

Meme Evolution

Later that evening, another Twitter user, @fayglo, tweeted a variation of the meme featuring a teenage boy in front of a sports car, which received 1,400 retweets and 5,400 likes in less than a month. Concurrently, iFunny user FatPat shared the earliest known version of the shirtless man variant, achieving over 775 upvotes. This image was sourced from a viral tweet by @timfoolery on April 3, 2019. The shirtless man version quickly became the most popular iteration, inspiring users to create their own versions by altering the subject matter. On April 18, the Instagram account grandmas.buttwhole posted the image, which subsequently gained over 62,000 likes within three weeks. By April 21, Twitter user @wornsword tweeted a variation that read, 'Just found out about gender dysphoria…. damn that shit sucks,' accumulating over 860 retweets and 2,900 likes in under a month.