Now Kith / Mike Tyson Holding Pigeons

About

Now Kith or Mike Tyson Holding Pigeons refers to a series of memes using a 1985 Sports Illustrated photograph of boxer Mike Tyson holding two of his pet pigeons as if he's about to make them kiss. The photo of Tyson with the birds became the subject of memes as early as 2011 and continued to inspire memes over the following years. In 2024, the streetwear clothing brand Kith released a collaboration with Tyson, including a shirt with an image of the meme on it. The memes are similar to the "Now Kiss" meme, with the first known example being a version of that format.

Origin

The photograph of Mike Tyson holding his pigeons closely together as if he's about to make them kiss comes from a 1985 Sports Illustrated photoshoot.^[1][2] The photo was taken by Manny Millan.

On August 9th, 2011, a Now Kiss meme was posted to the Tumblr^[3] blog meme-meme.org using the image, garnering around 45 upvotes in 13 years.

On May 25th, 2012, Redditor u/RazorG posted a meme to the subreddit /r/funny^[4] in which the text "now kith" has been added to the image of Tyson with his pigeons, garnering over 2,300 upvotes in 12 years. This is the earliest known use of the phrase "now kith" alongside the image.

Spread

The image continued to inspire memes over the following years. On February 15th, 2019, the Facebook^[5] page officialgymmemes posted an image macro using the image that gained over 4,500 reactions and 1,900 shares in five years.

On March 5th, 2020, Redditor u/K_Aggy44 posted a meme about Austrian biologist Gregor Mendel and his experiments with breeding pea plants using the format to /r/memes,^[6] garnering over 31,000 upvotes in four years. On July 31st, the original photo of Tyson with the pigeons was posted to /r/OldSchoolCool,^[7] garnering over 18,000 upvotes in the same span of time.

Kith Collaboration

On November 10th, 2024, the streetwear clothing brand Kith announced a collaboration with Mike Tyson, advertising a T-shirt designed with an image of the "now kith" meme. The Instagram^[8] post advertising the release, which features a photo of Tyson wearing the shirt, garnered over 77,000 likes in two days.

Various Examples

Related Memes

Now Kiss

Now Kiss! is the caption associated with a webcomic character holding two dolls as if he is forcing them to kiss each other. The image features the same face that would later be used for the Fap Guy often found in rage comics.

Search Interest

External References