Smokin' Jay Cutler

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About

Smokin' Jay Cutler is a photoshop meme that involves digitally manipulating photographs of the NFL athlete and Chicago Bears' quarterback to make it seem as if he is smoking a cigarette on the field during the games.

Origin

On September 13th, 2012, Chicago Bears' quarterback Jay Cutler became the subject of a minor controversy in the NFL blogosphere after the athlete was seen on camera yelling at his teammate and left tackle J'Marcus Webb before walking past him with a cold shoulder bump. Cutler's confrontational moment with his teammate quickly prompted criticism of unsportsmanlike behavior from the fans and other professional football players alike, leading the athlete to issue a statement regretting his actions (shown below):

[This video has been removed]

On the following day, Brandon Freeberg created the single topic blog smokinjaycutler^[1] on Tumblr to feature a series of photoshopped images in which Cutler appears to be surly and smoking a cigarette on the field.

Spread

On September 19th, USA Today^[4] published an article titled "Smokin' Jay Cutler lights up the web." The same day the meme and Tumblr blog was covered by the Bleacher Report^[5] and CBS Sports.^[6] On December 5th, The Village Voice^[8] named the blog the Best Sports Tumblr. On December 10th, Complex^[3] named the meme one of "The 25 Funniest Sports Memes of 2012." The blog's output and popularity reached its peak during the latter half of NFL's 2012-2013 season, though the blog continued to remain active for the 2013-2014 season as well. As of September 2014, the Facebook page^[7] has gained over 2,000 likes.

Aaron Rodgers' Tribute

In late September 2014, Smokin' Jay Cutler saw a second wave of news media coverage^[9]^[10] when Green Bay Packers' quarterback Aaron Rodgers revealed that his trademark "smoking a cigarette" gesture is a tribute to the Tumblr blog (shown below.