Cool Motive, Still Murder

About

Cool Motive, Still Murder is a famous quote from Brooklyn Nine-Nine protagonist Jake Peralta, in response to a criminal trying to justify his actions. This quote has been used online to dismiss similar justifications made by real people or fictional characters.

Origin

In March 18th, 2014, episode 21 of season 1, Unsolvable, premiered. Jake Peralta says the now iconic line when he taunts Nate Dexter, during his explaination of how he cracked the case.

- Now i'm telling my friend about how you killed that guy.
- It was for love!
- Cool motive, still murder.

Spread

People online have been using this punchline, most of the time as a subtitled screenshot of the original scene, and mainly in one of two contexts. The first one is in rebuttal to fictional characters, mainly antagonists, when they defend themselves or are being defended by fans by using their backstory as an excuse to their murderous behaviour.

It has also been used by online activists, for instance in defense of veganism or in opposition to abortion, and more generally at times when they oppose what they see as unnecessary killing.

Among the most popular instances of this meme, one uploaded on r/brooklynninenine^[1] on December 18th, 2020, and based on the series You, gained 10900 upvotes and 52 comments; and another, posted on r/HistoryMemes^[2] on April 17th, 2019, and which summed up the Nuremberg trials, gained 23700 upvotes and 194 comments.

On Tumblr, an Ace Attorney parody by the account incorrectaceattorney^[3] was uploaded on July 28th, 2015, and gained 16180 notes.

External References