About

X Is… Lost Media or BanBan Crying is a reaction meme format using the phrasal template, "X is… lost media?," "X" being a given subject, alongside a reaction GIF of BanBan from Garten of BanBan putting his tongue in his mouth and crying. The GIF originates from an April 2023 video by YouTuber Horror Skunx, and the meme was popularized as early as August of that year. The meme is often used ironically to falsely claim that something is now lost media, while the BanBan reaction is also used on its own as a reaction image.

Origin

On April 14th, 2023, YouTuber^[1] Horror Skunx posted a Garten of BanBan video about BanBan's origin, titled, "Banban's Sad Origin Story (From Garten of Banban)," garnering over 15 million views in two years. At the 00:28 timestamp, after BanBan is berated by his employer, BanBan sticks his tongue in his mouth and cries.

On August 5th, 2025, the Five Nights at Freddy's fan game Five Nights at Freddy's Plus was removed from the Steam marketplace and its developer went on a "long hiatus."^[2] That day, X^[3] user @Bravvyy_2 posted a GIF of BanBan crying under the caption, "WAIT… FNAF+ IS.. LOST MEDIA?" garnering over 2,300 likes in two years. This is the earliest known example of the meme.

Spread

On June 27th, 2025, X^[4] user @piss_kirby_ posted a version of the meme reading, "Lost media is… lost media…?" in response to a post by YouTube blameitonjorge, garnering over 3,100 likes in six months.

On August 4th, Tumblr^[5] user vortexstars posted an example of the meme as part of a compilation about the animated competition series Inanimate Insanity, garnering over 1,700 notes in four months.

On July 9th, 2025, X^[6] user @willsgardevoir posted a version of the meme about Hawk Tuah being lost media in response to a post by the person who bought Hawk Tuah Girl's X account, garnering over 24,000 likes in five months.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References