Who Is 'Paint Grandpa'? The Viral Meme Making A Resurgence As A Halloween Costume Explained

Paint Grandpa was the internet's brief infatuation early in 2019, sparking off redraw trends, photoshops, and remixes for weeks. But as newer internet meme trends tend to go, "Grandpa Ate Paint" was thought to be long forgotten to the tides of time.

But the story of how "Bobby" accidentally ate a pint of paint hasn't ended yet. In October 2023, "Paint Grandpa" made a reappearance thanks to a viral and hilarious TikTok video. Here's everything you need to know about the meme, from its origin to its latest popularity.

Where Does Paint Grandpa Come From?

In late February 2019, X (formerly Twitter) user Alex Stein made a post that read, "Sooo my grandpa ate half a quart of paint today thinking it was yogurt." The post was accompanied by two damning photos: one showing a half-empty can of opened paint, and another showing a disheveled-looking old man standing in a hallway with his lips covered in light green paint and his clothes covered in paint smudges.

The tweet soon went viral, with 400,000 likes from people eager to know if grandpa had survived his ordeal. His granddaughter posted an update later that day assuring his new fans of his health. "Update," she wrote, "his stomach’s completely unfazed" alongside a video showing her on FaceTime with him.

How Did The Internet React To 'Paint Grandpa'?

Paint Grandpa became an instant hit on Twitter, inspiring jokes and photoshops within a week of experiencing virality. A February 23rd, 2019 post by X user @briansOtherLeg showed "the anatomy of the old man who eat paint," while X user @shonenslumped made a joke about how it was actually JoJo character Dio Brando who ate a quart of green paint.

As for Bobby, the paint eater who started it all, the story led to the world finding out that Bobby's diet contained at least seven gallons of yogurt per week, which might explain why his gut biome did not allow a quart of paint to mess his system up.

Why Did Paint Grandpa Have A Resurgence In 2023?

TikToker @princesspeyto1 posted a video to her TikTok showing off her Halloween costume sometime in late October 2023. The video showed her dressed up in Paint Grandpa's outfit to the T; from the blue shirt to the can of paint to the paint smudges around her lips.

The video was captioned, "Going to a college party thinking people know who Paint Grandpa is," with a voice-over that said, "Stupid. Stupid!" The video gathered over 8 million views, and led to a whole new generation of people learning about the meme.

For the full history of Paint Grandpa, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.