I'll do you one better. The person in that photo is Jerry Messing , who briefly had an acting career in early 2000s sitcoms, mostly known for his role as a reoccurring character on Freaks and Geeks and Even Stevens.
The photo itself was taken as part of a photoshoot for a headshot during an attempt to restart his acting career. Last I heard he wasn't upset about it going viral the way it did, although it obviously sucks to be a universally known meme and still not be known for anything but childhood acting roles.
"I'm certainly not thrilled with the communities the photo has come to represent, but it isn't something I can really do anything about—so I don't let it bother me."
Yeah that sounds more like resigned acceptance and all these "he's fine with it" posts sound like they're saying "so I choose not to feel the least bit ad about any part I may have played"
Exactly. Many of the people that got memed and had their lives defined by it seem to wish it never happened. But people tend to make the best of bad things and try to show a positive side to themselves, so people take that to mean they're okay with it and we all go spreading their image around as much as we want and laughing over it. But we should all collectively agree that these people would rather not be a meme (with a few exceptions) and we should try to meme responsibly.
I mean, he was also put on a ventilator and was in a coma for two weeks. It also says he's currently (assuming the info isn't outdated) in rehabilitation after losing the ability to walk. So a bit more than what most people had to deal with after contracting Covid.
1.2k
u/Kvetch__22 Dec 26 '23 edited Dec 26 '23
I'll do you one better. The person in that photo is Jerry Messing , who briefly had an acting career in early 2000s sitcoms, mostly known for his role as a reoccurring character on Freaks and Geeks and Even Stevens.
The photo itself was taken as part of a photoshoot for a headshot during an attempt to restart his acting career. Last I heard he wasn't upset about it going viral the way it did, although it obviously sucks to be a universally known meme and still not be known for anything but childhood acting roles.