The Weekly Meme Roundup: Peanut The Squirrel, Knee Surgery, Election Memes And More

So, obviously everyone knows what was the big story this week. Much of social media was dominated by reactions and commentary on the U.S. Presidential Election, though it's difficult to argue that any serious memes came out of the event itself.

Much of the "funny" election-related social media activity came before Election Day, right as anxiety about the evening reached a fever pitch. Incredibly, some other templates broke through the noise and became notable memes on social media. This week, we'll look at everything that competed against the election for social media attention.

Vince Carter Crying and Cheering

Starting with the memes from this week that have absolutely nothing to do with politics, retired basketball star Vince Carter apparently had one more in him and gave the internet yet another meme.

This time, the meme (dubbed "Vince Carter Crying and Cheering") came from the ceremony in which the Toronto Raptors retired his jersey to honor his illustrious playing career with the team. As fans cheered him, Carter fed off the energy of the crowd, shaking his hands and screaming in triumph.

The clip became a celebratory reaction meme and spread particularly with the "When Young Thug Gets Into His Introspective Bag" meme template in recent days.

Examples

That Feeling When Knee Surgery Is Tomorrow

An exceptionally surreal meme sprung from the ether this week, comprised of a picture of a blue grinch captioned with the nonsensical text, "That feeling when knee surgery is tomorrow."

The meme actually originated in 2021 and was so oddly specific – while also making no sense whatsoever – that it spawned multiple offshoots from people who more enjoyed the oddness of the meme than the fact their knee surgery was tomorrow. The template saw a resurgence on TikTok recently, where the "weird" crowd over there enjoyed the hyper-specific meme.

Examples

Peanut the Squirrel

The biggest and oddest pre-election drama concerns "Peanut the Squirrel," a social media celebrity animal that was euthanized after a series of unfortunate events. First off, his owner, Mark Longo, never filed the proper paperwork to own Peanut, leading the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to seize the animal after they received reports from someone.

Then, Peanut bit one of the DEC handlers while he and his fellow pet "Fred the Raccoon" were being removed, and because it's impossible to test for rabies without killing the animal, both Peanut and Fred were put down. The story quickly went viral over the weekend into this week as the NYDEC received immense criticism from many online and Peanut became something of a "Harambe 2.0."

Additionally, this somehow became a right-wing rallying story on the weekend before the election. Soon-to-be Vice President J.D. Vance reported then-candidate Trump said, "You know, is it really the case that the Democrats murdered the Elon Musk of squirrels?" The connection between Peanut the Squirrel and any political party is tenuous at best, but the circus it caused led to widespread memes and commentary across the web this week.

Examples

Gleeks Candidate Godfrey G. Golden

In another bizarre development just before the election, social media literally dreamed up a third-party candidate named Godfrey G. Golden, who sort of looks like President Joe Biden and represented the so-called "Gleeks" party.

Though originally "dreamt up" earlier this year, the "candidate" has been the subject of a steady stream of memes that intensified before the election, with TikTokers also getting in on the trend and dubbing him "Joe Glubbin" as he spread on the platform.

Examples

Robert J. O'Neill's "Concubines" Post

Finally, Robert J. O'Neill, the former Navy SEAL who claims to have fired the bullet that killed Osama Bin Laden, told a bunch of young male Kamala Harris voters that were it not for social media, they would be his concubines. To be clear, "concubine" is generally understood to mean "sex slave."

According to many of the reactions, this was what the kids would call "out of pocket," and led to intense scrutiny and jokes at O'Neill's expense. He later claimed he simply meant "slave," which is still not great, but the damage had already been done, and he became a meme on the eve of the election.

Examples

We'll be back next Friday with another edition of our Weekly Meme Roundup series, so stay tuned!