AIDS Bill Clinton / Terminally Bill

About

AIDS Bill Clinton, also known as Terminally Bill, is a photoshop meme based on a photograph of the 42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton, which is often digitally altered to make him appear as if he is suffering from a debilitating disease.

Origin

On January 6th, 2015, The Daily Mail^[7] published an article reporting that Bill Clinton was included in contact lists owned by American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which included a WireImage photograph of Clinton (shown below, left). On May 8th, 2016, Redditor KansasCityChefs posted a photoshopped version of the image titled "This is what happens when Hillary gets too close to the Presidency," in which Clinton appears to have reddened eyes (shown below, right). Within three months, the post gained over 1,200 votes (86% upvoted) and 60 comments.

Spread

On May 11th, TubeNet Forums^[1] member bloke posted the photoshopped image in a thread titled "shocking recent photograph of Bill Clinton." On May 23rd, 2016,the @WorldStarFunny^[5] Twitter feed posted the same version of the photo juxtaposed next to a sick-looking SpongeBob Squarepants, asking why Clinton looks "like he's got a case of the suds" (shown below, left). The same day, YouTuber Filthy Frank tweeted the photoshopped photo (shown below, right).^[6] Within three months, the tweets garnered upwards of 6,600 and 3,200 retweets respectively.

On June 27th, an anonymous 4chan user submitted a thread inviting readers to "meme Bill to death in the name of Kek" to the /pol/ (politically incorrect) board, where several photoshopped versions of the photo were submitted (shown below).^[3]

On July 3rd, Redditor CantContheDon posted a photoshop in which Bill's soul appearing to be escaping his body to /r/The_Donald,^[2] where it gathered upwards of 2,200 votes (93% upvoted) and 100 comments over the next month (shown below, left). In the comments section of the post, Redditor MightyBulger submitted a GIF of various photoshopped examples (shown below, right). On July 9th, Tumblr user zimbabwe2019^[4] reposted Redditor CantContheDon's photoshop. On July 6th, another thread featuring various photoshops of the Clinton photo was submitted to 4chan's /pol/ board.^[8] In the comments, users referred to the meme as both "AIDS Bill Clinton" and "Terminally Bill."

Search Interest

External References