Chris Christie's Face

About

Chris Christie's Face refers to a pained expression worn by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as he stood behind Donald Trump during a press conference celebrating Trump's primary election wins during the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary. The expression was captured and ridiculed widely on social media after Christie was criticized for his endorsement of Trump.

Origin

Chris Christie endorsed Donald Trump's presidential campaign on February 26th, 2016, after dropping out of the race himself. The governor was widely criticized for the endorsement; one former campaign staffer called it "an astonishing display of political opportunism." After Trump won seven primary elections on March 1st, 2016 (also known as "Super Tuesday") he held a press conference and victory speech in Florida. Christie introduced him and then stood behind him for the duration of the appearance. (Christie's introduction begins at 2:11:00 in the video below.)

Spread

Users on Twitter began noticing Christie's facial expression in real time. Beginning at 9:39 pm EST, many notable Twitter users made jokes mocking Christie simultaneously. User mattduss tweeted "Christie enthusiasm level: hostage video." and received 394 retweets and over 400 likes in less than 24 hours. At 9:44 pm, by which time Christie had moved behind Trump who was beginning to speak, user jackmirkinson took a photo of the governor's face and tweeted "It's like he's trying to call for help through the screen;" this tweet received over 1,000 retweets and over 1,300 likes in less than 24 hours.

Many online celebrities, including Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing joined in; users remixed screenshots of Christie's Face with songs like Hello Darkness, My Old Friend and the theme to Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Internet's reaction to his expression trended on Facebook and Twitter. MSNBC launched a caption contest via their Twitter that asked users to name what they thought he was thinking, which received hundreds of responses.

The notable tweets were collected on a wide variety of media web sites, including Uproxx, CNN, and the Boston Globe.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References