About

Awkward Party Reaction refers to a photograph of a group of partygoers, predominantly women, who are looking at the camera with confused and disgusted expressions while holding red plastic cups. It is visually similar to reaction memes such as Girls Looking Back In Class, though this picture is usually used in memes as a reaction image paired with captions implying self-deprecation or other awkward moments, as well as POV memes. The image used in the meme originally comes from a skit posted by YouTuber Jimmy Tatro.

Origin

On November 12th, 2012, YouTuber LifeAccordingToJimmy (Jimmy Tatro) posted a video titled "Don't Stop the Music," which included a skit based on the awkward moments caused when the music suddenly stops at a party, and a story one is telling is overheard by others.

In the sketch, the main character (played by Tatro) says to his friend how a doctor wanted to put a thermometer in his butt, followed by him joking, "You can stick that thing in my mouth all you want but don’t stick it up my a--hole," as the music suddenly stops when it's unplugged, causing the partygoers (mostly girls) to hear him as they turn and stare at Tatro with shocked and disgusted reactions.

The video gained over 4.6 million views, 54,000 likes and 2,000 comments in 12 years (shown below).

The screenshot of the party staring awkwardly did not start seeing use as a meme until roughly a year later. On October 21st, 2013, a still image of the party reaction shot (shown below) appeared in a photo dump on the Dutch site VKmag.^[1]

Spread

The Awkward Party Reaction meme continued to spread online over the following months and years, typically as a reaction image to express someone being weirded out or repulsed.

On December 30th, 2013, the picture was posted to the subreddit /r/funny^[2] by Redditor kencrema with the caption, "The look you get when you ask Americans why they always use red plastic cups to drink," gaining over 960 upvotes in eight years (shown below, right).

The meme saw consistent use as a reaction image over the following years, continuing into the 2020s.

For instance, a viral example includes a November 22nd, 2020, post by Twitter ^[3] user @notjacksafford regarding mask-wearing in the American South during the COVID-19 Pandemic, gaining over 39,000 retweets and 423,000 likes in roughly six months (shown below).

On January 25th, 2021, Twitter user @loganc3^[4] used it to make a joke about the GameStop Short Squeeze event, gaining over 980 retweets and 7,400 likes in three months (shown below).

In late 2025, the meme saw a notable resurgence of interest online as various social media users began learning of the origins behind the still image used in the meme.

On September 2nd, 2025, X / Twitter^[5] user @nab1803 posted a tweet of the original meme with the caption, "Just discovered the context of this image and Im fucking dying man," receiving over 18.1 million views, 281,000 likes, 6,900 retweets and 1,000 replies in less than 24 hours.

The following morning, Twitter^[6] user @dragsol11 reposted a TikTok of the clip of the original meme from Jimmy Tatro's 2012 video, receiving over 926,000 views and 40,000 likes in six hours (seen below).

Also on September 3rd, 2025, The Tab^[7] covered the resurgence of the meme and its origin in an article titled "Everyone is just finding out the story behind the awkward party meme and I am shook."

Related Memes

Steam Deck

Following the July 15th, 2021, announcement of the Steam Deck portable PC handheld gaming device, POV Awkward Party Reaction memes in which a Steam Deck running various games was edited into the original still image gained virality on Twitter (viral example shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References