About

Woe, Plague Be Upon Ye is a catchphrase often used to accompany images of various characters throwing objects at the viewer. Originating from a viral photoshop of Eminem throwing a fat rat captioned in this fashion, the image macro series gained popularity in October 2020 and has been used as a template for redraws.

Origin

The original image of rapper Eminem extending his hand outward in front of his face while wearing a black leather jacket comes from a photoshoot sometime in 2010, which was also used as the single cover artwork for his hit song "Not Afraid," released on April 27th, 2010.

Contrary to some purported origins,^[10] the image does not come from an official GQ Magazine cover. The GQ cover was actually a fan-made mockup created by a TRShady^[11] user on July 10th, 2010.

In early August 2020, an photoshop of rapper Eminem throwing a fat white rat from the Fat Rat Being Grabbed meme gained viral spread^[1][2] (shown below, left).

On August 3rd, Facebook^[3] page Rappers In Peculiar Places posted an image macro in which the image was captioned "Woe, plague be upon ye." The post received over 1,400 reactions and nearly 700 shares in five months (shown below, right).

Spread

In the following weeks, the image received viral spread online. For example, on August 12th, 2020, Instagram^[4] user owen_kung reposted the image, gaining over 3,500 likes in five months. On September 8th, 2020, Redditor^[5] I_Have_big_1920s reposted the image, with the post accumulating over 5,000 upvotes in /r/ihaveihaveihavereddit subreddit in four months.

On August 26th, Twitter^[9] user @Jargon_Scott posted the earliest found derivative meme using the catchpharse (shown below, left), gaining over 110 likes. On September 22nd, 2020, Tumblr^[6] user shyoneland posted a Pokémon version of the meme, gaining nearly 200 likes and reblogs (shown below, left).

The meme format did not see major popularity until late October 2020. On October 26th, Instagram^[7] user plasmicals posted a Halo meme that received over 3,600 likes in three months (shown below, center). On the same day, Instagram^[8] user woomy_2 posted a Half-Life meme that gained over 3,100 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

Starting in late October 2020, the format gained moderate popularity and has often been used in redraws on Tumblr.

Related Memes

Fat Rat Being Grabbed

Fat Rat Being Grabbed refers to a photograph of a large white rat being held by its neck. Following initial use as a photoshop exploitable through 2019, the image reached viral spread in ironic memes in November 2019. In mid-May 2020, a cutout image of the rat gained popularity as an exploitable, with the rat being edited as a handheld weapon into screenshots of various video games.

Anime Girl Throwing Things

Anime Girl Throwing Things refers to a viral anime-style artwork of a woman throwing an energy drink can at the viewer. Created in July 2020 by artist @doshimash0, the artwork gained popularity as an exploitable, with users replacing the can with other objects.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References