About

Buff Kumail Nanjiani At Dinner With Gingerbread House is an image macro series based on a photo of muscular comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani at dinner. The photo inspired a series of jokes and memes about Nanjiani being on steroids, as well as a conversation and debate over how the public perceives muscular celebrities.

Origin

On December 25th, 2020, Kumail Nanjiani posted a series of photographs from his Christmas holiday on Instagram. ^[1] In one photo, he sits before a plate of food and a gingerbread house. He captioned the post, "So Emily and I didn’t go home this year on account of the pandemic. But we still found a way to make Christmas special. We made and decorated cookies, ate our respective comfort foods (Pakistani food, pecan pie) and watched our Christmas movies. (Elf, Christmas Vacation, Lord of the Rings.) It was strange but still absolutely wonderful. Hope you all found a way to make it special too." The post received more than 92,000 likes in less than two weeks (shown below).

Spread

The photo did not begin spreading to other platforms until the following week. On January 2nd, 2021, Twitter ^[2] user @moschinodorito shared the photograph with the caption, "whe you’re having a normal dinner and not on the verge of exploding." The tweet received more than 39,000 likes and 2,000 retweets in less than one week (shown below, left).

Following the post, people began joking about Nanjiani's appearance and comparing him to other fictional characters. For example, on January 3rd, 2021, Twitter^[3] user @JBoneDS tweeted a photo, comparing Nanjiani to the video game character Ben Throttle. They wrote, "Just saw somebody point out that hench Kumail Nanjiani looks like Ben Throttle and now it's all that I can see when I look at him." The tweet received more than 1,000 likes and 150 retweets in less than one week (shown below, center). Others compared Nanjiani to other muscular people and animals. Twitter^[4] user @KWholesaler tweeted a photo of a muscular cow with the caption, "wow i can’t believe kumail nanjiani’s transformation for this marvel movie." The tweet received more than 3,400 likes and 130 retweets in less than one week (shown below, right).

Allegations of Steroid Use

Following the spread of the image, people began to accuse and joke about Nanjiani of using steroids. For example, on January 2nd, 2020, Twitter^[5] user @blackmilosevic tweeted, "Kumail Nanjiani steroid face kills me every time." The tweet received more than 4,700 likes and 200 retweets in less than one week (shown below, left).

Some were offended by the jokes, claiming that they are an example of body shaming against men. For example, Twitter user @meesh_llegos tweeted,^[6] "Chris Pratt can bulk up for a marvel movie and everyone is cool with is. Kumail Nanjiani does it and people call him “grotesque” and assume he’s using steroids. I hate it here." The tweet received more than 1,700 likes and 200 retweets in less than one week (shown below, center). Twitter user @Chelsea_Fagan tweeted,^[7] "The Kumail Nanjiani thing makes me very sad. Our culture has created a system where people attempt to conform to impossible beauty standards to a point where it starts to render them unrecognizable, and then we mock and shame them. Men are not exempt from this." The tweet received more than 1,000 likes and 100 retweets in less than one week (shown below, right).

Some accused the backlash against Nanjiani as being rooted in racism, comparing the reaction to other Marvel. For example, on January 2nd, Twitter^[10] user @itsjustanx tweeted a mock positive reaction to other Marvel stars and the rhetorical question about the difference between Nanjiani and the others. The tweet received more than 13,000 likes and 1,600 retweets in less than one week (shown below).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the photo and the reaction, including Memebase,^[8] Cnet,^[9] New York Post^[11] and more.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References