Sean Spicer: A Career in Gaffe

June 20th, 2017 - 2:30 PM EDT by Matt Schimkowitz

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Photograph of Sean Spicer in a blue suit and red and blue striped tie laughing during a press conference.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has always been better at making news than delivering it. From his very first terse and awkward exchange with the press corp in January, Spicer has forged a love-hate relationship with the American news media and public, thanks to his penchant for giving convoluted answers and dislike for taking straightforward questions. Of course, this has been for the amusement of all of us as we watched him squirm his way out of whatever mess he's made. Now, with the latest rumors that the Trump administration is looking for a new face to replace Spicer's role, let's take a moment to remember the five most memorable memes that have come out of the White House Press Briefing Room since January.

The Twilight Sparkle Defense

Hard to believe that it's been less than a year since Sean Spicer came barreling into our lives. In July 2016, long before he found himself before the podium in the White House, Spicey tried to dismiss allegations that Melania Trump had plagiarized Michelle Obama's speech on the campaign trail by saying that she had actually plagiarized Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony. That's right, he went on CNN and quoted Twilight Sparkle right to Wolf Biltzer's facial hair. But hey, who amongst hasn't quoted My Little Pony right to Wolf Blitzer?

#SpicerFacts

Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has tried to sell the American people on a lot of weird stuff, usually by claiming that the news media is lying. The American public wasn't exactly used to this kind of treatment, so just before #AlternativeFacts became the hashtag of choice for befuddling White House statements, #SpicerFacts took social media by storm with an array of bizarre and hilarious spins on reality. Spicer's angry press briefings and argumentative style made for some strange statements and some hilarious tweets. Period.

Sean Spicer Answering Questions at a White House Press Briefing

Hiding In The Bushes

Spicer knows that summer's a great time to return to nature, which is presumably why the press found him hiding in the bushes outside the White House, following the firing of FBI Director James Comey. After a tense couple of hours where Spicer hid in his office, refusing to answer questions, he made a break for the White House, where reporters found him sneaking around in the bushes. After the Washington Post reported his whereabouts, he corrected them by saying that he was "among" the bushes, not inside them. You're one weird dude, Spicer.

Sean Spicer as Homer Simpson Hiding in a Green Bush

Pepsi-United-Spicer

On one fateful day in April 2017, Sean Spicer forever became synonymous with three little words: "Hold My Beer." You see, in an effort to one-up the public relations nightmares of Kendall Jenner's Pepsi Ad and United's Violent Passenger Removal, Sean Spicer decided to claim that Hitler didn't use chemical weapons on innocent civilians, forgetting the one thing that Hitler is most known for: The Holocaust. Then, when given the opportunity to clarify what he meant by that, he referred to Concentration Camps as "Holocaust centers." Given the close proximity to the three PR bombs, people began joking that they were competing to top one another, and whoever was left holding the beer was the one who lost. Let this be a lesson to all of us, breaking Godwin's Law is never recommended.

A mock dialogue among Pepsi Co., United Airlines and Sean Spicer

Sean Spicer Easter Bunny

The White House Easter Egg Roll is generally considered an innocuous and pleasant tradition for any presidency. Kids show up, they roll some eggs and the President looks like a good boy. But as with all things Trump, this year's was just a bit more complicated, when the Spice-man confirmed that during the Bush presidency, he played the Easter Bunny, dressing up for the kids at the Roll. That means Spicer was hiding in plain sight behind a thin layer of polyester-cotton blend for years. Of course, this retroactively changed the way we saw Sean Spicer and his hiding between the Bushes.

An Easter Bunny Posing with George W. Bush and Laura Bush


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