About

USAID Paid X to Y is a parody meme format and phrasal template used for posts spreading humorous misinformation that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was gutted by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) established by President Donald Trump in early 2025, spent large amounts of money on ridiculous expenses, such as paying celebrities to pose with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and paying brands to discontinue certain products. The format gained virality in early February 2025 following a fabricated report that the agency paid Hollywood actors actor millions of dollars to travel to Ukraine and take photographs with Zelensky to boost his international popularity. The meme format is similar to Blaming the Rothschilds memes.

Origin

On January 24th, 2025, United States President Donald Trump ordered a near-total freeze on all foreign aid, which was followed by Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency, announcing that USAID was in the process of being shut down, claiming it was "beyond repair."

In early February 2025, USAID's budget and its spending on global programs, including its sponsorship of certain media in the U.S. and other countries, became a viral subject of discussions on social media.

On February 5th, a fabricated^[1][2] report made to look as if it was produced by E! News went viral online. The report falsely claimed that USAID paid millions of dollars to Ben Stiller, Sean Penn and other Hollywood celebrities to travel to Ukraine and pose for photographs with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

For example, on that day, the X^[3] account @ImMeme0 shared the video, with the post (shown below) gaining over 4.1 million views, 13,000 reposts, and 27,000 likes in two days.

Did you know that USAID spent your tax dollars to fund celebrity trips to Ukraine, all to boost Zelensky’s popularity among Americans?🤯 pic.twitter.com/8VCZ43UGLs

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) February 5, 2025

Later on February 5th, 2025, X^[4] account @TruthHammer4EVA made a series of posts based on the video. The opening post, which falsely claimed that USAID paid actor Ben Stiller $4 million to take photographs with Zelensky, gained over 16 million views, 31,000 reposts and 125,000 likes (shown below).

Spread

Starting on February 6th, 2025, users on X posted parody claims that USAID spent ludicrous amounts of money to fund relatively random agendas.

For example, on that day, X^[5] user @GrecoGum made a post with a humorous claim that USAID paid Bodybuilding.com to shut down its forums. The post (shown below) received over 2,400 reposts and 34,000 likes in one day.

The parody format gained particular popularity with the NAFO collective, members of which posted AI-generated art of Zelensky meeting with dead celebrities together with claims that USAID paid them to pose with the Ukrainian President.

For example, on February 6th, 2025, X^[6] user @Vladi12 posted an AI-generated image of Zelensky together with musician Elvis Presley that garnered over 1,700 reposts and 18,000 likes in one day (shown below).

More parody posts based on the format went viral on X / Twitter in early February 2025.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References