Topline
The White House’s X account posted a lengthy tribute to the Cincinnati Zoo gorilla Harambe, whose death in 2016 sparked internet memes, remembering him as a “legend” and “true patriot” in a post that went viral and was criticized as bizarre by some Democratic accounts.
Harambe became an internet meme after he was killed in 2016. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
The White House honored Harambe, who was shot and killed after he grabbed a three-year-old boy who climbed into his Cincinnati Zoo enclosure, as an “icon” of “internet history, American culture, and an entire generation’s timeline.”
The post says upon Harambe’s death, “the world stopped scrolling” and “mourned something bigger than a meme,” saying “everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news.”
The White House heaped praise on Harambe, saying he symbolizes “loyalty, strength, chaos, unity” and the internet bringing people together “for one cause: never forgetting Harambe.”
The post immediately went viral, garnering 10 million views and more than 110,000 likes as of Thursday morning, with some commenters honoring Harambe and others questioning why the White House made such an emotional tribute to the slain gorilla.
Chief Critics
Headquarters, the X account that was formerly a campaign account for former Vice President Kamala Harris, posted: “How the admin felt posting this,” alongside an image of a man with red eyes wearing a Reddit shirt. Another post, liked more than 18,000 times, criticized the administration as the “Reddit regime.”
Key Background
Harambe, a western lowland gorilla, was shot and killed by a Cincinnati Zoo employee after a three-year-old boy climbed under a fence into his enclosure. Harambe, who was 17 years old and weighed 440 pounds, grabbed and dragged the boy at certain points while he was in the enclosure, a tense saga that lasted about 10 minutes before the employee shot the gorilla. Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard said in a statement the employee’s actions “saved the child’s life,” saying the zoo is “devastated that this tragic accident resulted in the death of a critically-endangered gorilla.” Harambe’s death sparked critical reactions from some who blamed the zoo and the boy’s mother for negligence, while a Change.org petition demanding legal consequences for negligent parties when an animal is killed at a zoo garnered more than 210,000 signatures. Some scientists, though, defended the zoo employee’s decision to kill Harambe, including primatologist Jane Goodall, who said Harambe’s death was “awful,” but “life and death decisions sometimes have to be made” and that a tranquilizer would have taken too long to take effect.
How Did Harambe Become A Meme?
Harambe instantly became an internet meme, and he was described by some media outlets as the biggest meme of 2016. Some earnest tributes for the gorilla appeared to descend into humorous territory, with internet users posting faux tributes, parody songs and photo edits of the gorilla in the weeks and months following his death. Harambe was shoehorned into other internet memes, with some social media users declaring “Bush Did Harambe”—a reference to conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11 attacks—and, in a more explicit meme, internet users turned “d-cks out for Harambe” into an ironic tribute for the animal. The Cincinnati Zoo denounced the memes, with Maynard saying in a statement he is “not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe,” adding the “zoo family is still healing.”
Further Reading
The Internet won’t let Harambe rest in peace (The Washington Post)
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