About

Hating Grandpa Joe is a tongue-in-cheek fan theory surrounding the 1971 fantasy musical film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that supposedly aims to expose Grandpa Joe as a vile human being and the true villain of the film.

Origin

In 2004, a year ahead of the 2005 release of the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the website Say NO to Grandpa Joe^[1] launched. Its mission statement reads:

Our goal is to expose the dark underbelly of the story. To reveal once and for all the truth about the only real villain in the movie (and no, it is not Slugworth). It is Grandpa Joe.

The site breaks down Grandpa Joe's negative attributes under the headings "Ratbag," "Industrial Spy," and "Bastard." Throughout the site, the authors (Oompa and Loompa) use quotes from the book and both movies to demonstrate why they believe Grandpa Joe is terrible. For example, they point to the fact that despite the fact he can walk when presented with the opportunity to go to the chocolate factory, he lies in bed all day with three other old people while Charlie's single mother works at a laundromat to feed a family of six.^[2] They also insinuate that Grandpa Joe is a bad influence for encouraging Charlie to steal Fizzy Lifting Drinks.^[3] They also insinuate he is a pervert, misogynist, opportunist, etc.

Spread

On May 8th, 2010, "The I Hate Grandpa Joe From Willy Wonka And Chocolate Factory Page" was launched on Facebook.^[6] On September 12th, 2010, Youtube user glenn0043^[4] uploaded a rant by sports commentator Jim Rome on his radio program The Jim Rome Show in which Rome reiterates several of the arguments from Say NO to Grandpa Joe. Rome would go on a similar rant on June 18th, 2015.^[5]

"The I Hate Grandpa Joe From Willy Wonka And Chocolate Factory Page" remained mostly dormant until June 3rd, 2012, when it posted several status updates about the horribleness of Grandpa Joe. In the following years, the page expanded to making image macros and photoshops of Grandpa Joe. As of July 2016, the page has over 16,000 likes.

The success of the page and movement led Neatorama^[7] to cover it on November 25th, 2014. In June 2016, the movement got its own subreddit, /r/grandpajoehate.^[8] On June 22nd, 2016, the Daily Dot^[9] wrote an article detailing the ongoing success of the anti-Grandpa Joe movement.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References