Friendly Reminder That Osama Bin Laden Had This Image Saved On His Hard Drive

Submission 7,080

Part of a series on Bin Laden Files. [View Related Entries]

About

Friendly Reminder That Osama Bin Laden Had This Image Saved On His Hard Drive is a copypasta and image macro meme in which a funny image is posted alongside the caption, "Friendly reminder that Osama Bin Laden had this image saved on his hard drive." The meme began in late May 2021 and references the contents of Osama Bing Laden's hard drive, which purportedly contained memes, video games, animated movies and anime episodes and other unexpected files.

Origin

On May 29th, 2021, X^[1] user @Fetusberry posted an image of a Captain America ring sucker under the caption, "Friendly reminder that Osama Bin Laden had this image on his hard drive," garnering around 10 likes in three years (shown below, left). This is the earliest known iteration of the meme. On the same day, u/Anonymous-boi-01 posted an image macro to /r/196^[2] of Killua from Hunter x Hunter grilling under the same caption, garnering over 20,000 upvotes in the same span of time (shown below, right).

Spread

The format gained viral spread over the following years, inspiring memes across social media. On August 20th, 2022, X^[3] user @timeimmemorial_ posted a version of the meme using a photo of James Gandolfini squeezing a SpongeBob mascot's nose, garnering over 166,000 likes in two years (shown below).

On January 11th, 2023, X^[4] user @2femcel2furious posted a version of the meme that gained over 33,000 likes in a year (shown below, left). On September 16th, Instagram^[5] user uncrustable.memess reposted the Gandolfini meme, garnering over 40,000 likes in six months. On January 9th, 2024, X^[6] user @incelsleepover posted a version of the meme referencing the anime Berserk, garnering over 169,000 likes in two months (shown below, right).