interviews
Blake Boston Revisits Becoming ‘Scumbag Steve’ As We Catch Up With Him For The Meme’s 10-Year Anniversary And Upcoming NFT Auction
ith so many nostalgic memes from 2011 celebrating their 10-year anniversaries, we reached out to Blake Boston, better known as Scumbag Steve, to see what he’s been up to over the last decade. Back during the golden age of Advice Animals and Impact-font captions, Boston’s seemingly innocuous photo was one of the most popular memes of the day where it became the perfect medium for portraying one of society’s worst kinds of people.
Initially, Boston loathed the meme and tried to (quite unsuccessfully) combat its spread and those who used it. Eventually, however, he learned to appreciate the association and still looks back on the whole experience fondly today. Retracing his childhood when the infamous photo was taken, all the way through the meme’s prime and everything since, Boston joined us earlier this week to discuss the legacy of Scumbag Steve from beginning to end now that it’s been over a decade.
Q: Welcome back, Blake. It’s been over a decade now since we last spoke with you, so just introduce yourself and let us know what you’ve been up to since then.
A: My name is Blake Boston, AKA Scumbag Steve. I'm from Boston, and pretty much what's been going on lately is just being a dad, playing a lot of music and trying to start a band right now, which is pretty cool. I'm engaged now too, and ever since the coronavirus, I've been doing a lot of gaming.
Q: To get a little context on the photograph used in the original meme, could you tell us a little about your childhood? What was young Blake like around the time of that image?
A: Well I was definitely a lot to deal with. I was really into Jackass, so I was always pulling pranks. We locked my mom in the room for a whole day to make her not eat just because of Bam Margera. Just setting certain traps like putting saran wrap over the toilet. I was pretty reckless. I guess me and my friends were kind of hooligans. My mom was totally into really artsy stuff. So like, she'd see me jump a 20-foot gap on rollerblades and she’d say, “Oh my God, this is awesome! I got to film it!” I'd always yell, “Please don't, please!” I used to hate getting pictures taken of me, so I would always be yelling while I'm doing stuff and she'd psych me out and I'd mess up. It was pretty fun times.
Q: From our previous interview, we know your mom was the one who actually snapped that iconic image that became a meme, but what else can you tell us about the day of the photo? Where’d you get the now-iconic hat and coat?
A: As far as I can remember, I was mad because I had places to be, probably the skate park, and everyone was taking too long. My sister’s notorious for taking a long time to get ready, like hours past when she's supposed to be there. So she's getting ready and we're like, “Come on!” I was really mad walking around the house and my mom could hear me because I'm literally the loudest person in the world. So she heard me come in, she takes the camera, and I'm about to say something right when she snaps the picture.
I got the hat at Lids, and I’m pretty sure the coat was from Marshalls. The hat was just on the shelf there and I thought it was cool with my Timberlands. I'm pretty sure it was a limited edition one and they only made like 2,000, 3,000 or something.
Q: Do you still have the hat, or is it long gone now?
A: Of course I do! [puts on the hat]
Q: It wasn’t until early 2011 when the meme began to really take off and solidified into “Scumbag Steve,” but do you recall where and when you saw it online? Also, what was your initial reaction to it back in the day?
A: Oh yeah, definitely. I want to say it was March 2011. I was with my pregnant girlfriend at the time and we were living at my parent’s house. Just randomly one night, I was drinking a couple of beers, probably doing a little too much scrolling, and then all of a sudden I saw these Facebook messages. I was like, “Why does it say 105 messages?’” They were like, “Dude, whose girlfriend did you have sex with? You're such a scumbag. You stole my lighter.” I was thinking, “What the hell?” And they're calling me Steve. My name's not Steve, but my dad is Steve, so I thought maybe they think I'm him. All of a sudden, all these pictures start popping up and my girlfriend saw them. She thought I cheated on her. My mom thought she ruined me because that was the picture she took of me. It was mayhem, absolute mayhem.
Q: What did your mom make of it since she actually took the image? Did she find it funny or was she upset, especially since it was somewhat negative in its portrayal of your likeness?
A: At first, she was really upset because she thought she ruined me. Here I am a young adult and she was thinking I’d go apply for some good position and they'd be like, “Wait a minute, what are all these pictures of you online?”
So then after a while when I was doing music [and embraced the meme later], she was like, “Oh, if you're going to take it positively, I'm going to take it positively,” because by that point I tried to do something with it and make it a marketable thing. Afterward, she was even showing me new memes and she’d say, “Hey, look at this one!” It was hilarious.
Q: Aside from her, how did the rest of your family feel about it?
A: A lot of my family members are people of medical professions: psychologists, emergency room, doctors, my aunt was an adjustment counselor at a high school. So we were very “how do you feel?” types of people, and we’re a very close family. They kept trying to go into the whole psychology of what happened and why I'm doing this. They were like, “Well, remember that time Blake peed in the closet when he was 3? We know this is just recurring behavior.” They were trying to make it seem like I did something wrong. After a while, we explained it and said, “This isn't how people actually think of me, Blake Boston, this [Scumbag Steve] is a whole different persona, like a character.” After that, everyone was very supportive. I even played my [Scumbag Steve] raps in front of my 80-year-old grandmother. She had never even heard rap before and she thought it awesome. It was hilarious.
Q: What about some of your friends or members of your rap group?
Initially, they were just kind of like, “Oh, this is not cool cause we're supposed to be rappers, not scumbags.” But after a while, we were like, “Let’s try to do something with it and make a negative a positive.”
Q: Since by 2011 memes had become somewhat prominent online, how familiar were you with that type of internet culture? Was it totally new upon yourself becoming a meme?
A: None of us knew anything about memes. We saw them here and there, but we just thought, “Oh, that's pretty funny.” I am really ashamed to say this, but I called it “me-me” at first [laughs]. I'd just see stuff and laugh, but I never really knew exactly what meme culture was. It was still brand new then too. Since then, I guess I've gotten a little savvier. My mom has definitely gotten savvy too.
Q: We discussed in the past that when people identified you as the person in the meme, you initially dealt with some trolls and other types of harassment. What was that like back then, and how have you handled it now that it’s been 10 years later?
A: At the beginning, I kind of wanted to fight everybody [laughs]. But ever since then, I learned to laugh at myself. Nowadays if someone recognizes me [from the meme], I'll suddenly say, “Let me get your lighter,” and I'll just walk off with it real quick as kind of a little joke. I've just more or less come to laugh at it more and now I love it. I love how the culture [memes] totally skyrocketed and taken off. It's crazy.
Q: We’ve now spoken with dozens of other individuals who wound up becoming memes, and they often either love or hate the association with them depending on the nature of the meme. Since Scumbag Steve represents such a dislikable character, did it ever concern you to have your face associated with the meme?
A: At first, yeah, but it was kind of funny because most of my bosses actually liked it and would show me certain things online. They’d post a meme and be like, “Did you see what I posted on Facebook?” It didn't really hurt me professionally, but there were obviously people who were older and not really on the internet at all who would pull it up on the computer in the office and they'd be like, “Oh, who's this guy.” They would treat me a little differently, but now I really don't care. If you sit down and have a conversation with me, then you can judge me, but I'll never let anybody hurt me like that, especially if you don't know me.
Q: Specifically at ROFLCon in 2012, you appeared on a panel with KYM and discussed the origins of the image. By that time, you had already accepted the meme and even learned to enjoy it, so what caused that change of heart where you ultimately decided to embrace it?
A: Generally, it was the whole positive response at ROFLCon. To hear everybody cheering when you're coming out [on stage], you're like, “Holy crap, they really don't hate me.” Obviously, they're all kinda making fun of me, but they understood that I took the joke and kind of tried to run with it. It was amazing, and it really did change my mind cause I walked away from that whole event thinking very positively about it.
Q: The format was mainly used as a way to mock stereotypical assholes and their behavior, but branched into other things as it developed such as improper smoking etiquette. Did you have a particularly favorite style of Scumbag Steve memes?
A: I'm very big on raunchy comedy, so the raunchier the better. Obviously, it's nasty and I'd never do that as a person, but that's just the joke of what Scumbag Steve would do.
Q: Scumbag Steve spawned a ton of variations and derivatives over the years, from the hat itself to full-blown side characters like Scumbag Stacy. Do you have any favorites that came after as offshoots of the original?
A: Probably the political ones, to be honest. I'm not going to get too much into politics, but the way they presented it with a lot of satirical things was very funny. You'd really have to come up with a good caption or something to nail whatever picture was put there with the [Scumbag] hat.
Q: Did you ever use the Scumbag Steve template to make memes of your own back then?
A: Of course. I don't even know if any of them got viewed at all though.
Q: You attended several events and even managed to capitalize on the meme in a few ways. What were those conventions like and what other impacts did it have on your life in that way?
A: We did an online campaign with Brisk Ice Tea. I think that was right around South by Southwest. South by Southwest was actually another one that really kind of spoke to my heart. I remember I was smoking a cigarette and I'd just done an interview where I did a little verse from my debut album. It was something from the Scumbag Steve Overture. I saw this older lady, she was just standing there being patient kind of walking around.
Then once everybody kind of cleared away from me, she walked up and she was like, “Are you the actual guy?” And I was like, “Yeah.” She goes, “Okay, can I ask you a question?” So I said sure, and she goes, “I'm a high school teacher.” And I can't remember the percentage, but the graduation rate for her high school was really low, and that year was actually pretty special because they got it above 50 something percent. So she said, “Oh, I’d like to give the students a kind of ‘congratulations,’ would you mind just recording a message for them?” She was so grateful that little old me would talk to a room full of kids. It was just something little like that, but I thought, “Really? You’re going to ask me for advice? I practically just barely made it through high school and you're going to ask me for advice?” But it was actually really humbling, and I still think of it to this day.
Q: That’s funny. I wonder if those kids still remember Scumbag Steve giving them a graduation speech. So did you ever become friends with some of the other early “meme celebrities” that often went to events like those?
A: Oh yeah, definitely. I'm still talking to them. I still keep in touch with Chuck Testa. I can't remember if I've met Bad Luck Brian in person, but I've talked to him on the computer a lot. I've talked to Annoying Facebook Girl a good amount too.
Q: Yeah, I remember when you wrote that letter to her and tried to help her through the struggles of becoming a meme, especially after your own struggle dealing with that. What was her reaction to the letter?
A: She was very, very thankful for that. She thanked me a lot. It makes me feel sorta successful, you know, cause I helped her through that and it was very positive. In my personal experience with that struggle, I felt it was easier to talk to somebody who'd been through that certain situation. So, I wanted to do anything I could, even if it's not going to rectify the whole situation. She'll forever be Annoying Facebook Girl and have to deal with it in a sense, but you have to separate yourself from that picture cause you're not that person.
Q: You were an active rapper during the meme’s heyday, and after embracing it a couple of years after, you went on to produce the series of “Scumbag Thursdays” videos featuring the character. Can you tell us more about those and the music you created around Scumbag Steve?
A: Well I suggested to my manager at the time about trying to make a rap album or something, and he came back with the “Scumbag Thursdays.” So, we kind of just brainstormed, and then a good buddy of his out on the West coast was an insanely good musician. He reached out to him and he was like, “Hey, do you mind making beats for Scumbag Steve?” He was a meme fan, so he said, “Of course. Hell yeah, let's do it. He’d send me a beat every two days or so, I'd write something to it, and then I’d find a local studio to record it and send all the files to him. It was a very fun thing to do and also very positive. I take my music very seriously so it was just amazing to see the reception it got.
Q: You mentioned earlier that you’re still active as a musician these days, so what’s going on for you as an artist currently?
A: So the band that I'm trying to create, I can't say too much about it because we don't have our name trademarked yet or anything, but I play guitar in it. We have another guitarist, a bassist and the drummer is the producer/engineer/drummer. He has all of the beats electronically, and I'll be doing vocals here or there. He's kinda like an active DJ, sort of like a Slipknot feel on stage. So that’s like a punk, electronic, metal-type of rock and roll. I've actually been taking drumming lessons for two years. When I was a kid, I was a big drummer and I took drum lessons for about 15 years. I’ve always done music. It was really hard to learn, but once I got the basics, it kind of came to me naturally.
Q: More recently alongside the explosion of meme NFTs that’ve been cropping up, we heard you were planning to auction off a unique Scumbag Steve crypto-collectible. How did you end up working with Chris Torres on #Memeconomy and how did this come about?
A: Believe it or not. My mother showed me. She briefly mentioned it and then we saw Chris doing it. So, we reached out to Chris, asked him about it a little bit and he was just like, “Dude, I'm going to help you.” We just talked back and forth and Chris is way smarter than I am, so he talked me through stuff and how to set it up. That was a cool opportunity. I'm only releasing one of them, so it's going to be like THE Scumbag Steve NFT, period.
Q: When does the auction end? Any guess as to what it’ll sell for?
A: It's going to drop Saturday. We're still sort of in talks about how long it's going to be, what the starting price is going to be, this and that. But I have no idea. I'd be happy with 10 grand, to be honest, but way better hopefully. Anything's better than $0 though.
Here is the link for the #scumbagstevenft #NFT
— SCUMBAG STEVE (REAL) (BlakeBoston617) March 12, 2021withFND#memeconomy ! 🌐
→ https://t.co/JRPGTWFNtc
Q: What do you make of this recent explosion of NFT memes we’ve seen lately? Do you think it will have any lasting effects on meme culture or meme creators?
A: I feel like it's still too early to tell. I think it'll do real good because you have somebody like Chris, who is an amazing artist, and he can branch-off and make something else and then keep that platform. It could happen to any of us, like with my band you could do something of me holding a guitar or headbanging and this and that.
Q: You told us in 2011 that your favorite was Scumbag Steve, so is it still your all-time favorite, or has it been replaced by something since?
A: To be honest with you, the more and more I've watched the Chuck Testa video, that is honestly one of my favorites. Nyan Cat definitely is one of my favorites too, and Success Kid.
Q: Since many of those hail from the early days of meme culture, like Advice Animals, would you say you miss the “good old days” of memes and the internet, or do you like how meme culture has evolved over the last 10 years since Scumbag Steve?
A: I think it's gotten better in some ways and worse in other ways. Before, if people were going to troll, they’d at least come up with something genius, but now they’ll just try to do something because they think it's cool and they have no idea what they're doing. I feel like, back in the day, people would really take time and think, “Oh, is this good?” and show three or four people before they posted it. Now it’s essentially shitposting. Shitposting has gotten a lot more popular.
Q: So, now that it’s been over a decade since, how do you reflect on this unique phenomenon of becoming a meme that so few ever experience?
A: Oh man, that's a good question. Honestly, I feel like it's helped me a lot more in a business savvy type of way. Doing the South by Southwest thing, there was a contract involved, so my lawyer would write it up and I’d look at it, so I guess I retained information pretty well from those things and I would take that into my personal life when I was negotiating a raise or something. Those things have given me a lot more confidence because I'm way more confident than I was back then [before the meme].
Q: Would you prevent your mom from snapping that photo all those years ago if you could?
A: No way. I woulda had like seven snapshots in that doorway, to be honest. “Oh, you want some Scumbag Steve sideways?” [mimics a photoshoot]. “How about this? Let me get my good side.”
Q: Any final word to add?
A: Just to look out for the NFT drop on Saturday and to say thanks for all the support. It's still going strong. So to everybody, thanks for the support because without the people, I wouldn't be Scumbag Steve. I would've been pushed in the back of the line somewhere, never to be mentioned again [laughs].
Watch our interview with Blake Boston below for the video version of our discussion.
Blake Boston is the man depicted in the Scumbag Steve meme, which was popularized in 2011. To see more of Boston, you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram or view his upcoming Scumbag Steve NFT via Foundation.
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