Shot Dead in the Bronx

About

Shot Dead in the Bronx refers to a series of memes parodying news image macros by RapTV / @Rap reporting on the deaths of rappers and other celebrities. Started by the Nemo Shot Dead in the Bronx macro in July 2022, the format imagines various fictional characters finding a violent end in the Bronx or other locations.

Origin

The Shot Dead in the Bronx meme format parodies reports of the deaths of rappers and other celebrities by the social media network Rap TV^[1] (example shown below).

On July 16th, 2022, X^[2] user @moristicko posted the earliest discovered parody image macro, a still image from Finding Dory captioned "Nemo Shot Dead in the Bronx" (authorship unconfirmed). The post (shown below) received over 7,400 reposts and 67,000 likes in two years.

Spread

The image was widely circulated online through reposts in the following months: for example, on August 23rd, 2022, X^[3] user @DailyStateside reposted the image, with the post garnering over 2,200 reposts and 19,000 likes in two years.

Prior to August 24th, 2022, the now defunct Instagram account @childhoodpost posted the earliest derivative meme within the trend, a Minions version. On that day, X^[4] user @moristiko reposted the image, with the post (shown below) gaining over 12,000 reposts and 125,000 likes in two years.

More similar parody macros appeared on Instagram, iFunny, X and other sites in 2023 and 2024, with multiple posts based on the format going viral. For example, on January 8th, 2023, Instagram^[5] account zestynews posted a Stuart Little version of the meme that garnered over 1.5 million views in one year (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References