Where Did The 'War Criminal :(' Meme Come From And Why Is It So Controversial? The Commentary Meme Explained

Indie rock band boygenius had their moment in the sun last year, going on tour, performing at Saturday Night Live, winning seven Grammy nominations and securing "Best Alternative Music Album" in 2023.

But what would have been the highlight of any indie band's career – a cosign from Barack Obama himself – became a somewhat controversial meme on Twitter after one of the bandmates posted and quickly deleted a tweet admonishing the former President.

Lucy Dacus, one of boygenius's three members, quoted Barack Obama's end-of-year playlist to write, "war criminal :(" after realizing that he featured the band in his post.

The daring post was quickly deleted by Dacus but went on to inspire a meme trend that eventually landed Washington Post columnist and journalist Taylor Lorenz in a bit of hot water as it continued spreading over the last year.

Here's a recap of the catchphrase "War Criminal :(" and how it is used online.

What Is The Phrase "War Criminal :(" Attributed To In Pop Culture?

Barack Obama began posting his end-of-year playlists during his last term as President, back when he was vacationing in Martha's Vineyard in 2015. The former President kept up with this practice for subsequent years, eventually adding the indie rock band boygenius's track "Not Strong Enough" to his summer 2023 playlist.

On July 20th, 2023, however, Lucy Dacus from boygenius quoted Obama's 2023 playlist tweet and wrote, "war criminal :(" receiving over 16.3 million views and 138,000 likes in just three days. The tweet was subsequently deleted.

How Did Internet Users React To Dacus's 'War Criminal :(' Tweet?

Various internet users weighed in on whether Lucy Dacus was right to publically label Obama as a war criminal. For example, X user @Hen_Dentist quoted Dacus with a joke prediction that "one of the artists featured in one of Obama's music lists will quote-tweet his post calling him a war criminal," gathering over 21,000 likes.

Also that month, X user @ScottishCommie quoted Dacus to write, "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 as the media quickly began covering the budding controversy.

Eventually, internet users began quoting the phrase "war criminal :(" to comedic effect, as seen in a post by X user @soapyhadid from the same timeframe in which they quoted a tweet about American singer Tony Bennet passing away with "war criminal :(" and gathered nearly 3,000 likes in a year.

What's Up With News About Washington Post Columnist Taylor Lorenz Getting Backlash Over The Meme?

Taylor Lorenz is a columnist and journalist largely known for her work on internet youth culture and internet-based right-wing extremism. In August 2024, Lorenz attended a White House press event and snuck a photo of herself posing in front of President Joe Biden.

On August 14th, New York Post reporter Jon Levine then posted a screenshot of what was purportedly Lorenz's private Instagram Close Friends Story, captioning it, "Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post calls President Biden a 'war criminal' 👀👀" to the effect of 2,000 likes.

What followed was a small media storm, with NPR posting a fact-checking article verifying if Lorenz really posted an image of Biden with the phrase "war criminal :(" on it. NPR managed to speak to four people who confirmed the image's authenticity, even as Lorenz told associates that the caption was added to her photo by a friend "as a joke," and only then reposted to her story.

For the full history of War Criminal :( be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.