Submission 427

The Light Is Red Owen

Updated Sep 18, 2026 at 05:18PM EDT by Zach.

Added Sep 18, 2026 at 11:55AM EDT by Phillip Hamilton.

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About

The Light Is Red Owen, also known as Owen Harris Memes, refers to a series of dark humor memes making fun of the death of 14-year-old Utah resident Owen Harris, who ran a red light while riding an e-bike and was struck by a car. The fatal crash happened on September 12th, 2026, and memes about the crash went viral over the following days on sites including TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Some of the most popular memes make fun of Owen for running a red light and use versions of the phrase, "Yo Owen the light is red." The memes often use versions of the SpongeBob Driving Crazy format and Beast Boy Driving Crazy meme to represent Owen. The memes sparked considerable backlash online for being insensitive to the death of Owen Harris amid their spread.

Origin

On September 15th, 2026, it was reported that a 14-year-old Utah resident, Owen Harris, was struck and killed by a driver after riding through a red light on an e-bike.^[1]^[2] The incident happened two days before on September 12th.

On September 16th, TikToker^[3] @zephra.posts posted a meme using a scene from Despicable Me where Gru and the Minions rocket off in a vehicle, captioned, "Owen the light's red," garnering over 3.3 million views in two days. The meme directly references the death of Owen Harris.

@zephra.posts Owen at a red light #owen #ebike #fyp #fypシ #viral ♬ original sound – ace

Spread

Memes about Owen Harris's death continued to spread in mid-September 2026, primarily poking fun at him running the red light that reportedly caused the incident.

On September 17th, 2026, TikToker^[4] @skrozn posted a version of the meme using footage from the Ghost Rider movie, garnering over 149,000 views in a day.

@skrozn life is a highway // #ebike #owen #foryoupage #viral #xyzbca ♬ suono originale – fast and furious f1

That day, TikToker^[5] @hoopervalley8 posted a video criticizing people for turning Owen's death into a meme, particularly because Owen was not a public figure, garnering over 1.2 million views in a day.

@hoopervalley8 Like I don’t think people comprehend that he is literally gone forever #hoopervalley #h00pify #owenebike #owenharris #ebikes ♬ original sound – hoopervalley

Also on September 17th, 2026, Instagram^[6] user xkenshutsu posted a meme about the death using a clip of SpongeBob driving distracted, garnering over 4,200 likes in a day.