Smiling Through it All LeBron

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About

Smiling Through it All LeBron is a meme about NBA superstar LeBron James continuing to enjoy his life despite any and all negative circumstances surrounding him. The meme was created by James when he posted this photo as an Instagram story with the caption “Smiling through it all! Can’t believe this my life." It started gaining traction as others began photoshopping James into different settings in order to express different forms of gratitude for different reasons. It is frequently found on Instagram, Twitter, and Reddit. The meme has grown incredibly popular within the NBA community. One can participate in the meme by reposting it to share good news, or show positivity when dealing with difficult circumstances.

Origin

James posted the original image as a story on February 16th, 2018 on his Instagram account @KingJames. James posted the photo after being told to "shut up and dribble" by FOX News anchor Laura Ingraham on television for speaking poorly on behalf Donald Trump during an interview. It’s first viral breakout occurred months later on December 16th, 2018, when Twitter user @MastaRedSnappa posted a photoshopped version of the picture featuring James in front hospital equipment to celebrate his negative MRI test results.

Spread

On December 26, 2018, a still image featuring LeBron James from his original Instagram story was posted onto Twitter by @MastaRedSnappa with the caption “When the MRI comes back negative.” The image’s background was replaced with a picture of an MRI machine, but nothing else was changed. The Tweet received 109 retweets and 562 likes. ^[1]

On February 6, 2019, the original image of James was posted onto Twitter by @JoeBroPro with the caption “Rick Paul knows Boston got the best offer come July.” The post was in reply to a Tweet from NBA insider Marc Stein regarding NBA superstar Anthony Davis’s interest in signing a long-term deal with the Boston Celtics. The image features then-Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge’s smiling face pasted over James’s. The Tweet received 26 likes. ^[2]

On September 15, 2021, the original image of James as posted on iFunny by @Steam. The image has James’s original portion of the caption “smiling,” pasted over with text that reads “suffering tremendously,” to form an ironic version of the original meme. ^[3]

On October 3rd, 2021, a video of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was posted with him smiling while up 40 points by the @BuffaloBills Twitter account. The caption of the video read, “Smiling through it all! Can’t believe this is my life,” in reference to James’s initial post. The tweet received 485 retweets and 7,710 likes. ^[4]