Bobby Portis' Eyes

About

Bobby Portis' Eyes refers to a series of memes made in reaction to and teasing Milwaukee Bucks player Bobby Portis' large eyes, which became popular following the team's Game 6 win during the 2021 NBA Finals. Memes about Portis' eyes and appearance began circulating on Twitter prior to the game, with many users comparing him to a specific image of Squidward with bulging eyes from SpongeBob SquarePants.

Origin

Since the beginning of 2021, Bobby Portis' wide eyes and general appearance have often been the subject of jokes, though the exact first is unknown. For example, on January 16th, 2021, Twitter^[5] user @justinsuperbuck created a Twitter thread consisting of NBA players with Portis' eyes photoshopped on them, garnering over 980 likes in six months (examples shown below, left and right).

On July 13th, 2021, Twitter^[4] user @DaKidGowie posted, "Whoever made this has to chill. I’m mad it actually looks like Bobby Portis. 😂😂😂" along with an image macro featuring Portis photoshopped as Squidward, garnering over 74,000 likes and 10,000 retweets in a week (shown below).

Game 6 NBA Finals 2021

Jokes about Portis' eyes and appearance increased as the Bucks entered the NBA Finals in 2021. On July 20th, Game 6 of the NBA Finals, the championship game consisting of a match between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns, was played. Over the course of the game, Bucks player Bobby Portis faced a number of questionable calls. During the third quarter, Portis was called for a foul against Devin Booker that was highly questioned, resulting in Portis reacting with a shocked expression highlighting his bulging eyes. The photo was posted to Twitter^[1] by ESPN that day, garnering over 4,200 likes in 12 hours (shown below).

Portis also appeared to stop Suns player Chris Paul from talking to an official after he ruled the ball out on their team (clip shown below).

The Bucks ultimately won the game with a score of 105-95, making this the second championship win for the team.

Spread

During the game, viewers began making lighthearted jokes on Twitter about Portis' eyes. On July 20th, Twitter user @Hoodville_ posted, "Bobby Portis looking at the refs" and a photoshop of Portis as Squidward, gaining over 1,600 likes in a day. In the early morning on July 21st, Portis tweeted^[2] "MOOD" along with the image of Squidward with bulging eyes photoshopped to look like him in celebration of the win, garnering over 142,000 likes and 19,000 retweets in under a day (shown below).

On the same date, Twitter^[3] user @MasterChefMoney posted a photoshopped version of the Embarrassed Emoji made to look like Portis, garnering over 19,000 likes and 3,300 retweets in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References