Hehe Cat
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About
Hehe Cat refers to a series of reaction images and image macros based on a video of a kitten staring at the camera with its mouth slightly ajar. The cat went viral on 9GAG in late July 2021 with a reaction image captioned "Hehe," with the "Not Hehe" reaction image and other macros spreading in the following months.
Origin
On July 11th, 2019, Douyin[19] / TikTok user 喵,奶爸(苗伟posted a video of a British Shorthair kitten looking at the camera with its mouth slightly open (video and GIF shown below, left and right). The post gained over 46,000 likes in four years.
On July 13th, 2019, Instagram[1] page happycatclub reposted the video. The post received over 893,000 views and 128,800 likes in two years, with July 14th reposts by Instagram[2][3] pages catloversclub and kittyworld.co gaining an additional one million and 283,000 views and 177,100 and 32,000 likes.
Spread
In the following years, the video was reposted by various Instagram and Facebook[4][5] pages. On December 5th, 2019, an unknown Redditor[6] posted the video to the /r/Eyebleach subreddit where it gained over 1,100 upvotes. The source Imgur[7] post received over 572,000 views in two years.
On July 4th, 2021, Instagram[8] page brokencattos reposted an edited frame from the video in which the kitten was given a smile (author unknown, shown below, left). The post received over 30,900 likes in two months. On July 12th, Facebook[9] page Blessed Images reposted the photo, with the post gaining over 6,200 reactions and 1,900 shares in two months.
On July 11th, Twitter[10] user @Hi_Fi_Goon reposted the earliest found derivative edit of the image, with the cat given a skeptical expression (shown below, center). On July 16th or before that, an image macro combining the original edit with the caption "hehe" started being used as a reaction on 9GAG.[11] On that day, a user made the earliest discovered post of the macro (shown below, right).
In late July and August 2021, the reaction image gained viral popularity on 9GAG[12][13][14] with users using the image to react to various posts. Starting in late August, derivative versions of the reaction image started appearing, most notably a version captioned "not hehe" (shown below, left, additional examples center and right).
On August 3rd, Tumblr[15] user jokeboy posted an edit in which the cat was given an evil grin (shown below, left). The post received over 34,400 likes and reblogs in one month. The image was popularized outside of 9GAG after September 5th when Twitter[16][17] users @northstardoll and @vsshole posted two complementary Normalize X memes with @vvshole's meme based on the edit (shown below, center and right).
In September 2021, image macros based on images of the cat were posted on Facebook, iFunny, Twitter and other social media platforms.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Instagram – happycatclub
[2] Instagram – catloversclub
[3] Instagram – kittyworld.co
[4] Facebook – 📽 from @喵,奶爸(苗伟) 😍😍😍😍😍 ~ double tap ❤❤ #sweetcatclub
[5] Facebook – 📽 from @喵,奶爸(苗伟)| DY 😍😍😍😍😍 ~ double tap ❤❤ #catloversclub
[6] Reddit – cuteness overload
[7] Imgur – cuteness overload
[8] Instagram – brokencattos
[9] Facebook – Blessed Images
[10] Twitter – @Hi_Fi_Goon
[11] 9GAG – Ane pny situs hokep, udah dpt duit banyak dr stu, rencana mau bagi bagi duit di lampu merah, bakal viral ga ya kn lumayan buat konten yutub
[12] 9GAG – kucingmengantuk
[14] 9GAG – Hehe cat selection list. Please add more in comments.
[16] Twitter – @northstardoll
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