Mr. Fresh / Side Eye Cat

About

Mr. Fresh, also known as the Side Eye Cat or Brother Fresh, refers to an orange cat who makes frequent appearances on the Cat Feeder Camera livestream on the Chinese app Hello Street Cat. The cat is nicknamed Mr. Fresh because he stares at the camera and waits for the viewer to dispense fresh food to eat. An image and GIF of Mr. Fresh side-eyeing the camera turned him into the Side Eye Cat meme, similar to the Side Eye Dog. In January 2024, Mr. Fresh and the other Cat Feeder Camera Cats, like the Cat Eating Then Looking Up and Hedgehog Eating Cat Food, gained fan art, memes and redraws. In February 2024, a bounty was placed on Mr. Fresh by a group of Telegram users.

Origin

On October 8th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @catzoo1 posted the first known clip of Mr. Fresh on livestream, gaining roughly 457,500 plays and 123,700 likes in three months (shown below, left).

On October 10th, TikToker^[2] @annettesullivan posted a video that introduced Mr. Fresh, stating that he was given the moniker because he only eats food that is freshly dropped. He'll stare at the viewer until they donate more food for him. Over three months, the video gained roughly 1.9 million plays and 239,800 likes (shown below, right).

On January 6th, 2024, TikToker^[3] @marceloeguino posted a video of Mr. Fresh waiting for food in which he was giving the camera a side-eye. The video received over 42.1 million plays and 7.8 million likes in 12 days (shown below).

Spread

Soon after the video's virality, it spread as a "side eye" reaction on social media. For instance, on January 7th, 2024, X^[4] user @JJPM_YT used the video to represent, "Yu-Gi-Oh! Players looking at their opponent with a NFSW playmat," gaining over 2,700 likes in 11 days (shown below, left).

On January 15th, 2024, X^[5] user @MR_FR1ENDSHIP posted a different GIF of Mr. Fresh, writing, "the world must see this gif at once," receiving over 48,000 likes in a day (shown below, right).

On January 7th, TikToker^[6] @katgura_bachi posted a meme with Mr. Fresh's side eye, captioned, "Me looking at the teacher after she touched me without even asking," gaining over 69,000 plays and 4,500 likes in 11 days (shown below, left).

On January 9th, 2024, TikToker^[7] @zuum_5 posted a Mr. Fresh fancam that received over 21.9 million plays and 3.7 million likes in nine days (shown below, right).

Going into mid-January 2024, Mr. Fresh and his side-eye image and GIF continued to surface in memes online. For instance, on January 17th, 2024, X^[8] user @CEOofIsaacs posted a side-by-side comparison of Mr. Fresh's side eye and the Cat Eating Then Looking Up, writing, "who's smarter?" The post received roughly 48,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Mr. Fresh Bounty

The Mr. Fresh Bounty refers to an alleged bounty placed on Mr. Fresh in February 2024 by Chinese Telegram users a part of a "cat torture" group. The news spread to the Western web on Instagram via the account @feline_guardians. In turn, many in China made efforts to save Mr. Fresh. In the West, people raised awareness and made memes about Mr. Fresh evading his bounty.

Various Examples

Templates

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References