Origin

This meme began with the December 2016 Christmas Special episode of 'The Special without Brett Davis'^[1], in which the cast play out a variety of alt-right characters, including Sam Hyde of Million Dollar Extreme, in which he speaks the eponymous line, "2017… I am forgotten", in reference to the second season of Sam's show getting cancelled:

(Archived version available^[2])

Implying that Sam is known for MDE in 2016, but by the next year will be unknown (after its 2nd season was cancelled prior to this airing).

Spread

This has spread beyond, as seen when the original skit was reference on 4chan^[3], with modified text^[4], in reference to Maddox^[5] (need to ctrl-f to "forgotten"), in reference to Epic Fail Guy^[6], and Ajit Pai^[7].

Looping back to its origin, the most consistent use of the meme is actually back on the Million Dollar Extreme subreddit, which is where the bulk of relevant search results come from:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22i+am+forgotten%22+site:www.reddit.com

Where the meme is used in much the same way as above – directing schadenfreude at someone who is, or should be, less relevant than they were.

External References

^[1] IMDb The Special Without Brett Davis Alt-Right Christmas Special (TV Episode 2016) – IMDb

^[2] Internet Archive Sam Hyde – Alt Right Christmas Special with High Waisted – The Special Without Brett Davis : VMU Dream : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

^[3] 4plebs /tv/ – Television & Film » Thread #85175177

^[4] Imgur 2018…I am forgotten – Imgur

^[5] yuki /tv/ – Maddox Won – Television & Film – 4chan

^[6] 4plebs /tv/ – Television & Film » Thread #90442448

^[7] yuki /pol/ – >2018 >I am forgotten – Politically Incorrect – 4chan