Kevin James Smirking Getty Image

About

Kevin James Smirking Getty Image, also known as Kevin James Shrugging or Kevin James "King of Queens" Photo, refers to a Getty Images stock photo of actor Kevin James smirking on the set of the TV show The King of Queens as Doug Heffernan, wearing a green flannel and shrugging while looking into the camera. The image became a viral meme in late 2023, spreading on Twitter / X as a reaction image and image macro, often paired with captions about being confidently cheeky or mischievous. The image's usage eventually led to the genre of Kevin James Posting in which many stock images and promo photos for The King of Queens were captioned in memes and tweets, including those with co-star Leah Remini who eventually reacted to the memes.

Origin

On January 1st, 1998, a photograph of actor Kevin James on the set of The King Of Queens was published on Getty Images,^[1] taken by photographer Tony Esparzam for the CBS Photo Archive (shown below).

The photo became a meme years later in September 2023. Currently, the first known meme to use the image was posted by X^[2] user @ChampagneAnyone on September 21st, 2023, captioning it, "me after 1 double rum and diet," gaining roughly 24,000 likes in three days (shown below).

Spread

Usage of the image quickly spread on X going into the following days. For instance, on September 22nd, 2023, X^[3] user @dudemanburner captioned the image, "Officer: have you had anything to drink tonight? / Me:" receiving roughly 34,300 likes in two days (shown below, left).

The image started to saturate X and the memes then became increasingly elaborate as it continued trending on the platform. For instance, on September 23rd, X^[4] user @s4m31p4n posted a They Don't Know iteration, gaining roughly 21,400 likes in a day (shown below, right).

The format soon spread to both Instagram^[5] and iFunny,^[6] among other websites.

The King Of Queens Co-Star Leah Remini Reacts

On September 26th, 2023, The King Of Queens co-star Leah Remini posted to X^[7] reacting to the memes. She wrote, "I wanted to let you all know I'm seeing all of The King of Queens memes and tweets and I absolutely love them. Thank you for 25 years of amazing memories!" gaining roughly 95,400 likes in one day (shown below).

The post gained reactions via replies, such as X^[8] user @notcapnamerica who asked, "But have you sent them to Kevin? 😂," receiving over 500 likes in one day. Remini's reaction also gained news coverage on the day of its upload.^[9]

John Fetterman Usage

On September 27th, 2023, U.S. Senator John Fetterman used the Kevin James smirk as his official statement regarding the United States Senate introducing a formal dress code in response to debate about Fetterman not wearing a suit on the floor.

Kevin James Reacts on The Tonight Show

On January 23rd, 2024, Kevin James appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The interview was uploaded to the show's YouTube^[10] page that night, garnering over 400,000 views in three days. At around the 05:05 mark, Fallon asks James about the meme. James claims he remembers doing the photoshoot and describes the day, claiming he asked the photographer to "bury that one," but the photographer insisted it wouldn't pop back up. Fallon then showed off a selection of the memes, with James laughing and calling them "so dumb."

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References