About

"We Were Bad, But Now We're Good" is a memorable quote from the parody song "The Sex Offender Shuffle" by YouTuber Scott Gairdner. In April 2019, a screenshot from the music video became a meme expressing faux feelings of redemption.

Origin

On November 30th, 2009, YouTuber Scott Gairdner posted a video parody of the song and music video for "The Super Bowl Shuffle". In the song, the sex offenders featured sing, "The state of Florida has asked us to disclose our sexual crimes to you. We were bad, but now we're good. We're moving to your neighborhood." In a little over 10 years, the video received more than 35 million views (shown below).

The earliest known usage of the screenshot as a meme was published by KnowYourMeme ^[1] user Silvermoon424 on April 11th, 2019. The post received more than 3,300 views in less than one year (shown below).

Spread

On June 21st, 2019, Redditor ^[2] Billyjack2002 posted a variation with the caption, "When you and your friend convert from iFunny to Reddit." The post received more than 245 points (99% upvoted) and 20 comments in less than one year (shown below, left).

Later that year, Redditor^[3] Shad0w2 shared a variation with the caption "Multi-million dollar companies after planting 5 trees." Within three months, the post received more than 37,000 points (97% upvoted) and 195 comments (shown below, center).

On December 22nd, Redditor^[4] PrototypeGiga shared a version with the caption "Minecraft spider when the sun rises." Within one month, the post received more than 47,000 points (97% upvoted) and 175 comments (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References