cockroach painted onto wall

@chellzyeah/Twitter

A landlord apparently painted over a cockroach in this woman’s home—and the internet turned it into a meme

Some wondered if it was still alive.

 

Siobhan Ball

Internet Culture

Posted on Sep 7, 2021   Updated on Sep 7, 2021, 12:40 pm CDT

Two days ago, Twitter user @chellzyeah shared a photograph of her apartment wall, where a cockroach is literally embedded right into the paint. “My landlord painted over a fucking roach,” she wrote in a tweet with the accompanying photo.

Despite the sheer, revolting horror of this photo, the immediate response from Twitter users was an absolute deluge of memes. Many of the memes referenced pop culture, from Star Wars to 300.

https://www.twitter.com/Crusty_Old_Punk/status/1434704639031529479

Some focused on the roach’s incredible pose.

And many of the memes made use of the photo’s resemblance to a certain borrowed vaudeville dance beloved by Loony Tunes characters.

Or turning it around to fit anything from kicking a soccer ball to shaving your legs.

And even some slightly lewder things.

As well as killer redecoration suggestions.

https://www.twitter.com/velociraptisart/status/1434399818051473408
https://www.twitter.com/Beccadatwitt/status/1434777287606640640

Beyond the memes, though, people were disgusted and outraged.

But entirely unsurprised, sharing landlord horror stories from the frustrating to the enraging.

With anti-landlord sentiment on the rise, especially in the wake of the eviction moratorium’s overturn, these kinds of landlords might want to think about stepping up their game. Maybe at least make sure there aren’t any roaches in the way when they go to paint the walls.


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*First Published: Sep 7, 2021, 12:39 pm CDT