About

Video Killed the Radio Star refers to a series of object labeling image macros which reference the 1979 pop song "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. The image macros generally show two people, one labeled "video" and the other, often a celebrity with a highly-publicized death, is labeled "radio star," implying that the first literally killed the other.

Origin

"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a single released by The Buggles on September 7th, 1979.^[1]

Precursor

The song has been referenced in object labeling memes involving guns since 2017, including Sniper Elite Headshot, Who Killed Hannibal?, and This Is America.

Spread

The meme began gaining more notoriety in late November of 2018 when it shifted to focus on conspiracy theories about high-profile celebrity deaths. On November 21st, 2018, Twitter user @ka5sh tweeted an edited picture of JonBenet and Burke Ramsay, gaining over 1,500 retweets and 5,700 likes (shown below, left). On November 22nd, Twitter user @ajiujoe tweeted an edited image of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana, gaining over 16,000 retweets and 70,000 likes (shown below, right).

Examples without mentioning celebrities or conspiracy theories spread during this time as well, though they were not as popular. For example, a tweet by @guidens using a still from The Lion King gained over 30 likes (shown below, left). A Fantasy Painting Object Labeling example posted in /r/dankmemes on November 22nd gained over 40 points (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References