War Criminal :(

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About

War Criminal :( refers to a memetic catchphrase used to label world leaders, celebrities and other notable people as war criminals with a disappointed tone indicated by the frowning face emoticon, which humorously punctuates the serious accusation. The meme started on Twitter / X in 2023 when American singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus of the group boygenius quoted former U.S. President Barack Obama's Summer Playlist tweet that included a boygenius song. Her "war criminal :(" tweet amassed both criticism and support. It was later deleted. The tweet condemned Obama's controversial foreign policy decisions in the Middle East during his presidency. In August 2024, the War Criminal :( meme resurfaced en masse when Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz received backlash for appearing in a selfie with acting U.S. President Joe Biden and the "war criminal :(" text overlaid on it, which was reportedly posted in a private Close Friends Instagram Story. A screenshot of the Story then leaked on Twitter / X. Lorenz stated that the caption on the photo was added by a friend and not her after it was shared among a private group. The post and caption referenced pro-Palestinian criticisms against President Biden for his support of Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas Conflict.

Origin

On July 20th, 2023, boygenius member Lucy Dacus quoted former U.S. President Barack Obama's Summer Playlist tweet on X,^[1] writing, "war criminal :(" receiving over 16.3 million views and 138,000 likes in three days (shown below). The tweet was deleted by the end of 2023.^[2]

Spread

Although the tweet was deleted, viral quotes of it remained on X in which users levied support or criticism. For instance, on July 20th, 2023, X^[3] user @Hen_Dentist quoted Dacus's post with a January 2023 tweet screenshot that predicted "discourse in 2023," including "one of the artists featured in one of Obama's music lists will quote-tweet his post calling him a war criminal," receiving over 21,000 likes in a year (shown below, left).

Alternatively, on July 20th, X^[4] user @ScottishCommie quoted Dacus, writing, "A lot of people more upset about Obama being called a war criminal than they are about Obama committing war crimes," gaining over 3,200 likes in a year (shown below, right).

Memetic usage of the catchphrase surfaced going into 2023, such as a tweet shared by X^[5] user @soapyhadid who quoted a tweet about American singer Tony Bennett passing away with, "war criminal :(" receiving over 2,900 likes in a year (shown below).

Taylor Lorenz's Close Friends Instagram Story

On August 14th, 2024, New York Post reporter Jon Levine posted a screenshot to X^[6] showing Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz's Close Friends Instagram Story, which depicted a selfie of Lorenz standing in front of U.S. President Joe Biden with text overlay reading "war criminal :("

Levine's post on X^[6] was captioned, "Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post calls President Biden a 'war criminal' 👀👀," and received over 2,100 likes in two days (shown below).

Later on August 14th, 2024, Lorenz replied to Levine on X,^[7] writing, "You people will fall for any dumbass edit someone makes," receiving over 300 likes in two days (shown below, left).

Also on August 14th, Lorenz posted a selfie to X^[10] seemingly taken in the same position without the "war criminal :(" text. Lorenz wrote that it was taken at the "White House’s first ever creator economy summit" (shown below, right).

The abovementioned tweets notably received Community Notes on X^[8] in the following days that cited a fact-checking article published by NPR^[9] on August 15th, 2024. The publication claimed, "Four people with direct knowledge of the private Instagram story confirmed its authenticity to NPR."

As the image sparked controversy, NPR reportedly spoke with a representative at the Washington Post who said, "Our executive editor and senior editors take alleged violations of our standards seriously… We’re aware of the alleged post and are looking into it."^[9]

Additionally, the NPR^[9] article noted Lorenz told associates that a close friend took the uncaptioned selfie she originally posted and then added the caption to it "as a joke," which she shared with the group on the private Instagram post.