Alex Jones Turning Around In Court

Submission 3,974

Part of a series on 2022 Alex Jones Defamation Trial. [View Related Entries]

About

Alex Jones Turning Around In Court is an exploitable image macro of Info Wars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones turning around to look over his shoulder at the doors in court amid his 2022 defamation trial. After being posted on Twitter in July that year, meme creators reimagined who Jones was looking at in the doorway or used him as a reaction image with an accompanying caption for humorous effect.

Origin

On July 26th, 2022, Austin, Texas news outlet KXAN published an article^[1] about Alex Jones' defamation trial regarding the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Within the article, the station included a screencap from the trial of Jones turning around to look at the courtroom behind him (shown below).

On July 26th, 2022, Twitter^[2] user and KXAN newswoman Avery Travis attached the screencap in a tweet alongside others from the trial, earning 10 likes in two weeks (shown below, left). Despite the aforementioned tweet being its first appearance on social media, it wasn't used in a memetic context until August 4th, 2022, when Twitter^[3] user cheekysiIlyguy captioned the image, "when i’m at a squirting contest and i hear someone yell 'SQUIRT ON THAT WHITEBOY!!!'" earning roughly 5,400 likes in four days (shown below, right).

Spread

On August 5th, 2022, Twitter^[4] user SonderQuest did not caption the meme but instead paired it alongside an image of the Dancing Lobsters from Nickelodeon's The Amanda Show entering the courtroom. The tweet received roughly 165,600 likes in three days (shown below).

Inspired by both SonderQuest's tweet^[3] and cheekysiIlyguy's tweet,^[4] more creators on Twitter paired the Jones image with other memetic characters walking into the courtroom. For instance, on August 6th, 2022, Twitter^[5] user Cartarsauce paired it with the animatronics Melvin, Buff and Max from Disneyland's "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" ride, earning roughly 1,100 likes in two days (shown below, left). On August 7th, Twitter^[6] user OnCinemaOnAnger paired it with an image from Tim Heidecker's show On Cinema, earning roughly 20,100 likes in one day (shown below, right).

The image macro spread to memes outside of Twitter as well. For instance, on August 6th, 2022, Instagram ^[7] user tank.sinatra posted a screenshot of his own tweet, earning roughly 15,200 likes in two days (shown below, left). On August 7th, 2022, the Instagram^[8] account thenewmythology.jpg posted a carousel post with an original meme that used the Jones image, captioning it, "bugs when you lift up a rock." The post received roughly 1,200 likes in a day (shown below, right).