Why Are People Redrawing Eminem Throwing A Rat? The 'Woe, Plague Be Upon Ye' Meme Explained

As iconic as the Eminem Throwing Things meme is, 2020 saw a version of the meme that bowled over internet artists. The image of Eminem holding out his hand originates from a photoshoot the rapper did with Nigel Perry ahead of his album "Recovery" back in 2010.

Eminem's iconic photograph launched a thousand memes in the 2010s, with people photoshopping the image to show the rapper "throwing" various objects toward the viewer, but one iteration of the meme stuck out in 2020. An image of Eminem chucking a blurry, distinctly fat, and white rat toward the viewer with the text Woe, Plague Be Upon Ye went viral in 2020, and changed the way people viewed the Eminem Throwing Things meme forever.

What Is The 'Eminem Throwing Things' Meme?

Sometime in the 2010s, soon after a photo of Eminem nonchalantly gesturing toward the camera hit the magazine racks, internet users began photoshopping various items to make it look as though Eminem was slinging things around.

A few years later, soon after 2019, someone discovered another piece of the "Woe, Plague" puzzle; a photo of a seemingly overweight white rat. The image inspired photoshops and memes almost instantaneously. After all, what's not to love about a fat rat being grabbed tight by his owner?

What Is The 'Woe, Plague Be Upon Ye' Meme?

In early August 2020, someone photoshopped an image of Eminem to make it look like he was throwing the fat white rat at the viewer, and a few days later, a Facebook page added text to the image that read, "Woe, Plague Be Upon Ye."

While this deep fried image was reposted quite a few times in 2020, the meme did not see major popularity until October 2020, after Instagram user @plasmicals posted a Halo meme and @woomy_2 posted a Half-Life meme that gathered over 3,000 likes each.

The meme format did not see major popularity until late October 2020. On October 26th, Instagram^[7] user plasmicals posted a Halo meme that received over 3,600 likes in three months (shown below, center). On the same day, Instagram^[8] user woomy_2 posted a Half-Life meme that gained over 3,100 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

What Are Some More Examples Of 'Woe, Plague Be Upon Ye' Memes?

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For the full history of Woe, Plague Be Upon Ye, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.