Blue Eyes Slander

2018catchphrasesemi-active

Blue Eyes Slander is a running series of X and TikTok jokes mocking people with light-blue eyes for supposedly angling their selfies to show them off. The format built up between 2018 and 2023 around a piercing 2008 photo of Miley Cyrus and catchphrases like 'we see them damn' and 'buy her brown contacts PLEASE.'

Overview

Blue Eyes Slander is an ongoing joke format on X and TikTok where users mock people with light-blue eyes for the supposedly attention-hungry way they show them off in selfies and videos7. The bit leans on the stereotype that blue-eyed people angle photos so the color catches the light, or caption posts in ways that pull the reader's eye straight to their irises1.

Recurring pieces of the format include a piercing 2008 photo of Miley Cyrus, a crude MS Paint cartoon with folded hands drawn by @Pubby_Kat, and catchphrases like 'Okay girl we see them damn'2. The tone is teasing rather than hostile, and the target is almost always someone the poster thinks is a little too pleased with their own eye color4.

How It Spread

The catchphrase side of Blue Eyes Slander started building around 2020. On April 8, 2020, iFunny user @sad_payable_tygenki_2020 shared a screenshot of a now-deleted X post using the phrasing 'Okay damn, we see them,' which turned into shorthand for calling out light-eyed posters6. The wording stuck. On March 22, 2023, X user @islandthembo posted 'Damn we see them' and collected more than 12,000 likes within four months4.

Visual entries kept appearing alongside the catchphrases. On November 12, 2022, X user @Yokiter posted their own illustration riffing on blue-eyed people, pulling over 3,000 likes in a year3. In April 2023, a screenshot from a TikTok of a brown long-haired dachshund with uncommonly blue eyes attracted the comment 'I'm literally shaking buy her brown contacts pls,' which Tumblr user @heartheater then reshared, locking in 'buy her brown contacts' as another go-to punchline5.

How to Use This Meme

People typically use Blue Eyes Slander by quote-tweeting or replying to a selfie, pet photo, or video where the subject's blue eyes are the focal point, then adding a line like 'okay girl we see them damn' or 'buy her brown contacts PLEASE'6. Static image versions often pair the Miley Cyrus photo or the @Pubby_Kat MS Paint cartoon with a caption calling out the perceived attention-seeking1.

Frequently Asked Questions