Butter the Bearded Dragon

About

Butter the Bearded Dragon was a pet bearded dragon who inspired the creation of numerous tribute memes after its owner announced it would be put to sleep due to a tumor in late August 2019.

Origin

On August 27th, 2019, Redditor GreeseMunkeeGamer submitted a post to /r/MemeEconomy^[1] titled "Butter the bearded dragon is being put to sleep tomorrow because of a tumor, but maybe she can live on as a meme?" along with two pictures of the pet reptile (shown below). Within 24 hours, the post gained over 740 points (99% upvoted) and 60 comments. The same day, GreeseMunkeeGamer submitted a similar post to /r/meme,^[2] where it garnered more than 20,150 points (95% upvoted) and 450 comments over the next day.

Spread

That day, Redditor pneumonoultramicrosi submitted a screenshot of the /r/meme post to /r/memes,^[6] where it accumulated upwards of 14,900 points (96% upvoted) and 240 comments within 24 hours (shown below).

Shortly after, Redditor NASA66 posted a Death and the Dog comic edit featuring Butter to /r/memes^[5] (shown below, left). Meanwhile, Redditor weirdbokoblin submitted a Meme Heaven photoshop featuring a picture of Butter to /r/memes, where it gathered over 41,500 points and 1,000 comments within 22 hours (shown below, right).

That evening, /r/memes^[3] moderator mrflaco75 stickied a post announcing that a picture of Butter had been selected as a new thumbnail for the subreddit. Within 19 hours, the post garnered more than 79,300 points (90% upvoted) and 880 comments.

Also on August 28th, the internet humor site Memebase^[4] published an article highlighting memes honoring Butter's memory.

Search Interest

External References