Article Lead Image

Screengrab via CBS News/YouTube

The internet mocks Sean Spicer for his press statement, turns him into a meme

What will the next 1,459 days hold for Spicer?

 

Chris Tognotti

Internet Culture

Posted on Jan 22, 2017   Updated on May 25, 2021, 3:59 am CDT

The inauguration of President Donald Trump has come and gone, and the actual administration isnow  humming along, with new faces lined up in all corners of the government. 

In fact, the internet (and indeed, all of America) got its first look at newly christened White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Saturday, just one day after the swearing-in. And it’s not a stretch to say the early reviews have not been all that positive.

Within hours of his press statement Saturday, the world of social media was flooded with jokes and jibes, mocking Spicer’s apparent willingness to say absolutely anything to stay in his newest job and, presumably, to placate the ego of his new boss. 

As first impressions go, this one stirred up an immense amount of criticism and mockery, as he attacked reporters and denounced the media’s coverage of the inauguration, specifically the crowd size Trump drew to the National Mall. He falsely insisted, in stark contradiction of plain photographic evidence, that Trump’s inauguration drew more viewers than President Obama’s first one in 2009 and, indeed, was the “largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period.”

Former Bush administration press secretary Ari Fleischer and former Obama administration press secretary Jay Carney sparred over Spicer’s performance.

Thus, a meme was born. 

Here are some of the best jokes that have been circulating since, many of them under hashtags like #SpicerFacts and #SeanSpicerSays.

https://twitter.com/VicBergerIV/status/823013639187742720

It’s no stretch to say that this probably wasn’t the introduction to the public Spicer was looking for, nor the sort of maiden voyage that the White House press corps was hoping for. To the contrary, it set a bad tone and a bad precedent for what’s to come. 

One of the costs of this kind of performance is probably clearer to Spicer now, however—the internet doesn’t forget, and it always has some stinging jokes.

Share this article
*First Published: Jan 22, 2017, 1:17 pm CST