What is Absolutely Disgusting?

It is a reaction image macro made from a UPN9 New Jersey news screenshot showing a reporter with an appalled expression above the chyron "absolutely disgusting".

Where did Absolutely Disgusting come from?

The frame was first published in May 2008 by American writer Mike Sacks as part of a webpage titled "Photos of TV".

What does Absolutely Disgusting mean?

People post it to register exaggerated or genuine disapproval, letting the newscast chyron voice their reaction to whatever is being discussed.

How do you use Absolutely Disgusting?

It is typically dropped into a forum or imageboard thread as a standalone reply, sometimes with the face or caption swapped for a joke variant like the Lil B "absolutely based" edit.

Is Absolutely Disgusting still popular?

It is a classic imageboard-era reaction image whose peak circulation was between 2010 and 2013 on 4chan, Britfags, Operator Chan, and Tumblr.

Absolutely Disgusting

2008image macroclassic

Published August 15, 2026

Absolutely Disgusting is a reaction image macro built from a UPN9 New Jersey news screenshot where an appalled reporter appears above a lower-third caption reading "absolutely disgusting." The image spread through imageboards and Tumblr starting in 2008 as shorthand for exaggerated disapproval in forum threads.

reaction memes facial expression memes image macro memes late 2000s memes imageboard memes

Overview

Absolutely Disgusting is a reaction image built from a single frame of a local New Jersey UPN9 news broadcast, showing a middle-aged reporter with a pained, appalled facial expression while the lower-third chyron reads "absolutely disgusting"1. The pairing of the reporter's grimace with the blunt caption is the entire joke, which is why the image travels so well as a drop-in reply.

On imageboards and forums, people post it whenever they want to register mock outrage or genuine revulsion at whatever is being discussed, from bad cooking photos to tabletop RPG greentexts2. It functions as an early template in the wider genre of newscast-caption reaction images, where the authoritative TV-broadcast framing amplifies the punchline3.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Personal blog (Photos of TV) / imageboards (viral spread)

Date

2008

In May 2008, American writer Mike Sacks published a webpage titled "Photos of TV," a compilation of screen captures taken from various local news segments5. Among those grabs was the now-familiar UPN9 frame of the New Jersey reporter reacting to something he found "absolutely disgusting" in his vicinity, as labelled by the accompanying chyron3.

The reporter's name is not credited in the original gallery, and the exact news segment the frame was pulled from has not been publicly identified, which is why the image circulates as an anonymous artifact rather than a clip attributed to a specific broadcaster3.

How It Spread

On May 21st, 2008, Gawker writer Nick Douglas highlighted Sacks's gallery in a post that gave the screenshot its first significant audience beyond the original blog3. From there the still slipped into imageboard culture, where it was reposted without the surrounding gallery context and treated purely as a reaction image.

On October 6th, 2010, it landed on the /nom/ (food) board of the Britfags imageboard, an early venue where users deployed it against unappetizing meal photos4. On February 27th, 2012, it was posted to 4chan's /tg/ (Traditional Games) board in a thread of Dungeons and Dragons war stories, and on March 30th, 2013, Operator Chan user Pervasive Vagrant reposted it to the site's /meet/ (Meetings and Shoots) board1 2.

Tumblr edits followed shortly after. On May 9th, user bohnbohn posted a version with rapper Lil B's head superimposed over the reporter and the caption swapped to "absolutely based," and on October 28th, user syauska shared a version featuring My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic character Sweetie Belle posed as the reporter, keeping the original caption intact1.

How to Use This Meme

The template typically keeps the reporter's framing and the lower-third chyron in place, with users swapping either the caption text or the reporter's face for a different character to fit a specific target. Common convention is to post it as a standalone reply in a thread, with no added text, so the chyron speaks for the poster.