Best Cry Ever

2010viral videoclassic

Best Cry Ever is a viral clip from an April 2010 episode of A&E's Intervention, in which retired boxing champion Rocky Lockridge lets out a long, unusually high-pitched sob after his son tells him he still loves him. The moment took off on YouTube within days of airing and became one of the most-remixed emotional reaction videos of the early 2010s.

reality tv origin memesaudio memesmashup video memesearly 2010s memesunwilling celebrity memes

Overview

Best Cry Ever is a short clip lifted from an intervention scene involving Rocky Lockridge, a former WBA and IBF super-featherweight world boxing champion whose career ended in the early 1990s and who was living on the streets of Camden, New Jersey by 20091. In the footage, Lockridge's face crumples and he releases a long, almost musical wail after a family member says, 'deep down in my heart, I still love you'2.

What set the moment apart from countless other emotional reality-TV scenes was the sound itself. The cry is drawn out, high-pitched, and oddly melodic, which made it perfect raw material for editors, autotune producers, and mashup videos3. YouTube uploaders quickly cut the sob down to a few seconds of pure vocal, and that short version became the copy people actually shared3.

The clip is now a fixture of early-2010s YouTube remix culture, and it also pulled Lockridge, who had been out of the boxing spotlight for close to two decades, back into public conversation for the rest of his life2.

How It Spread

A shorter cut titled 'Best Cry Ever' hit YouTube on April 12, 2010, and was posted to Reddit the same day, where it picked up only 273 points on its initial run3. Blog coverage followed within a week, with Best Week Ever, BuzzFeed, Gawker, Break, Urlesque, and Perez Hilton all writing about the clip3. BuzzFeed pitched it with the line that viewers would 'feel cathartic just watching this,' an early example of the site's soon-to-be-signature emotional pull quote style4.

Remix culture took over from there. Throughout 2010 and 2011, autotuned song edits and mashups of Lockridge's cry filled YouTube, and by 2011 the trend was mainstream enough that CollegeHumor and CBS News both featured segments about it3. By March 2012, a YouTube search for 'Best Cry Ever' returned more than 50,000 results, most of them fan edits, music remixes, and reaction videos3.

Mainstream news brought the story back around in February 2019, when Lockridge died at 60 from complications of stroke and pneumonia. The Philadelphia Inquirer used the meme as the frame for his obituary, arguing that the Intervention appearance was the moment that pulled him off the street1. The Daily Mail's obituary was more blunt, pointing out that a younger generation knew him not as a two-time world champion but as the man behind the Best Cry Ever meme2. LadBible ran a similar piece under the same framing5.

How to Use This Meme

Best Cry Ever is typically used as a reaction, either as a standalone video reply when someone posts overwhelming news or as source audio for a music remix. Common convention is to isolate the wail, loop or stretch it, then sync it to a beat or lay it over an unrelated visual for comedic contrast3. Because the sound is recognizable within the first half-second, edits often skip any setup and cold-open on the sob itself. On text platforms, people also just link the raw YouTube clip with no comment, treating the audio as the whole joke.

Cultural Impact

The clip pulled a fading boxing figure back into public conversation almost two decades after his last professional fight. Lockridge's 1984 first-round knockout of then-undefeated Roger Mayweather for the WBA super-featherweight title, and his 1987 IBF junior lightweight belt, had largely fallen out of general memory by the time Intervention aired2. His obituaries in 2019 reversed that priority, opening on the meme and only then working back to the boxing career15.

The episode also had a direct effect on Lockridge's life. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the network of fans, strangers, and family who reached out after the broadcast helped him leave the streets, and he lived sober for the last decade of his life1.

Fun Facts

- Rocky Lockridge held both the WBA and IBF super-featherweight world titles during his boxing career2

- His son's line 'deep down in my heart, I still love you' is the exact trigger that precedes the famous sob2

- By March 2012 there were more than 50,000 YouTube results for 'Best Cry Ever'3

- Lockridge's amateur boxing record was 210-8 before he turned professional1

- The original Reddit post of the shortened clip earned only 273 points, well below what would count as viral today3

Derivatives & Variations

Autotuned song remixes uploaded to YouTube throughout 2010 and 2011[3]

A CollegeHumor mashup segment in 2011[3]

A CBS News package on the meme's remix culture in 2011[3]

Frequently Asked Questions

Best Cry Ever

2010viral videoclassic

Best Cry Ever is a viral clip from an April 2010 episode of A&E's Intervention, in which retired boxing champion Rocky Lockridge lets out a long, unusually high-pitched sob after his son tells him he still loves him. The moment took off on YouTube within days of airing and became one of the most-remixed emotional reaction videos of the early 2010s.

reality tv origin memes audio memes mashup video memes early 2010s memes unwilling celebrity memes

Overview

Best Cry Ever is a short clip lifted from an intervention scene involving Rocky Lockridge, a former WBA and IBF super-featherweight world boxing champion whose career ended in the early 1990s and who was living on the streets of Camden, New Jersey by 20091. In the footage, Lockridge's face crumples and he releases a long, almost musical wail after a family member says, 'deep down in my heart, I still love you'2.

What set the moment apart from countless other emotional reality-TV scenes was the sound itself. The cry is drawn out, high-pitched, and oddly melodic, which made it perfect raw material for editors, autotune producers, and mashup videos3. YouTube uploaders quickly cut the sob down to a few seconds of pure vocal, and that short version became the copy people actually shared3.

The clip is now a fixture of early-2010s YouTube remix culture, and it also pulled Lockridge, who had been out of the boxing spotlight for close to two decades, back into public conversation for the rest of his life2.

How It Spread

A shorter cut titled 'Best Cry Ever' hit YouTube on April 12, 2010, and was posted to Reddit the same day, where it picked up only 273 points on its initial run3. Blog coverage followed within a week, with Best Week Ever, BuzzFeed, Gawker, Break, Urlesque, and Perez Hilton all writing about the clip3. BuzzFeed pitched it with the line that viewers would 'feel cathartic just watching this,' an early example of the site's soon-to-be-signature emotional pull quote style4.

Remix culture took over from there. Throughout 2010 and 2011, autotuned song edits and mashups of Lockridge's cry filled YouTube, and by 2011 the trend was mainstream enough that CollegeHumor and CBS News both featured segments about it3. By March 2012, a YouTube search for 'Best Cry Ever' returned more than 50,000 results, most of them fan edits, music remixes, and reaction videos3.

Mainstream news brought the story back around in February 2019, when Lockridge died at 60 from complications of stroke and pneumonia. The Philadelphia Inquirer used the meme as the frame for his obituary, arguing that the Intervention appearance was the moment that pulled him off the street1. The Daily Mail's obituary was more blunt, pointing out that a younger generation knew him not as a two-time world champion but as the man behind the Best Cry Ever meme2. LadBible ran a similar piece under the same framing5.

How to Use This Meme

Best Cry Ever is typically used as a reaction, either as a standalone video reply when someone posts overwhelming news or as source audio for a music remix. Common convention is to isolate the wail, loop or stretch it, then sync it to a beat or lay it over an unrelated visual for comedic contrast3. Because the sound is recognizable within the first half-second, edits often skip any setup and cold-open on the sob itself. On text platforms, people also just link the raw YouTube clip with no comment, treating the audio as the whole joke.

Cultural Impact

The clip pulled a fading boxing figure back into public conversation almost two decades after his last professional fight. Lockridge's 1984 first-round knockout of then-undefeated Roger Mayweather for the WBA super-featherweight title, and his 1987 IBF junior lightweight belt, had largely fallen out of general memory by the time Intervention aired2. His obituaries in 2019 reversed that priority, opening on the meme and only then working back to the boxing career15.

The episode also had a direct effect on Lockridge's life. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the network of fans, strangers, and family who reached out after the broadcast helped him leave the streets, and he lived sober for the last decade of his life1.

Fun Facts

- Rocky Lockridge held both the WBA and IBF super-featherweight world titles during his boxing career2

- His son's line 'deep down in my heart, I still love you' is the exact trigger that precedes the famous sob2

- By March 2012 there were more than 50,000 YouTube results for 'Best Cry Ever'3

- Lockridge's amateur boxing record was 210-8 before he turned professional1

- The original Reddit post of the shortened clip earned only 273 points, well below what would count as viral today3

Derivatives & Variations

Autotuned song remixes uploaded to YouTube throughout 2010 and 2011[3]

A CollegeHumor mashup segment in 2011[3]

A CBS News package on the meme's remix culture in 2011[3]

Frequently Asked Questions