CEO of...

2018Catchphrase / comment formatsemi-active

Also known as: CEO of [thing] · CEO meme

CEO of... is a 2018 Twitter catchphrase where users jokingly crown people as Chief Executive Officer of random abilities, becoming TikTok's signature compliment format by 2019.

"CEO of..." is a meme format where someone is jokingly declared the "Chief Executive Officer" of a random trait, action, or abstract concept. The format started on Twitter around 2018 as casual compliments before exploding across Reddit, Instagram, and TikTok in 2019. It became one of TikTok's signature comment section traditions, where users crown video creators as the "CEO of" whatever skill or quirk they just showed off.

snowclone memescatchphrase memestiktok memesironic memes

Overview

The "CEO of..." format takes the corporate title of Chief Executive Officer and applies it to something absurd, mundane, or oddly specific. In practice, someone posts a video of themselves making perfect pancakes, and the top comment reads "CEO of pancakes." Someone trips in a funny way, and they're crowned "CEO of falling." The joke works because it borrows the gravitas of a Fortune 500 title and slaps it onto everyday nonsense3.

The format operates in two main modes. The sincere version is basically a compliment: telling someone they're so good at something they might as well run the company. The ironic version, which developed on Reddit, treats abstract concepts like racism or sex as if they're corporations with actual CEOs who can be confronted.

The phrase "CEO of..." started circulating on Twitter around 2018 as a casual, hyperbolic way to praise someone. Users would tweet things like "Beyoncé is the CEO of slaying" or call a friend the "CEO of cat-eye liner." At this stage, the format was mostly a straightforward compliment wrapped in corporate metaphor.

The format took an absurdist turn in mid-2019 on Reddit. On June 25, 2019, Redditor ducc777 posted a GigaChad image to r/okbuddyretard with the caption "We want to talk to the CEO of racism," earning over 21,200 upvotes within six days. This kicked off a wave of ironic "CEO of..." posts where users treated abstract concepts as corporations with real executives. The meme spread so fast that r/okbuddyretard moderators banned CEO and Inventor memes on June 29, 2019, just four days later.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (original format), Reddit (ironic variant), TikTok (mainstream spread)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2018

The phrase "CEO of..." started circulating on Twitter around 2018 as a casual, hyperbolic way to praise someone. Users would tweet things like "Beyoncé is the CEO of slaying" or call a friend the "CEO of cat-eye liner." At this stage, the format was mostly a straightforward compliment wrapped in corporate metaphor.

The format took an absurdist turn in mid-2019 on Reddit. On June 25, 2019, Redditor ducc777 posted a GigaChad image to r/okbuddyretard with the caption "We want to talk to the CEO of racism," earning over 21,200 upvotes within six days. This kicked off a wave of ironic "CEO of..." posts where users treated abstract concepts as corporations with real executives. The meme spread so fast that r/okbuddyretard moderators banned CEO and Inventor memes on June 29, 2019, just four days later.

How It Spread

After the Reddit wave, the format branched out across platforms in the second half of 2019. Before July 31, 2019, someone created the "CEO of Sex" meme using a photo of actor Jacob Batalon in a grey suit from the Spider-Man: Homecoming premiere. Redditor Juanisimo1999 reposted it to r/okbuddyretard on July 31, gaining over 200 upvotes, and an Instagram repost by salad.snake on August 11, 2019 pulled in more than 44,200 likes.

On October 26, 2019, Instagram user Rainslurp posted a video of a teenager singing Akon's "Don't Matter" with the caption "The CEO of Swag he wont le you go doe," which went viral as its own standalone meme.

The format's biggest moment came with TikTok's rise in 2020 and 2021. "CEO of..." became a staple of TikTok comment culture, with users flooding comment sections to crown creators as the CEO of whatever they were doing. The hashtag #CEOof gained traction, and creators started using the format in their own captions and bios. The format was flexible enough to work as both genuine praise ("CEO of edits," "CEO of trick shots") and gentle roasting ("CEO of being off beat," "CEO of overcooking").

By 2022, the format's peak had passed on TikTok, though it still pops up regularly. A notable revival happened in January 2025 with the "Matching CEO Names" trend, where users created doctored Google knowledge panels showing fictional CEOs with names matching their companies, like ROBLOX's supposed CEO "Robert Lox".

Platforms

TwitterTikTokRedditInstagram

Timeline

2019

CEO format emerges on social media

2019-2020

Becomes widely used across platforms

2020-01-01

CEO of... started spreading across social media platforms

2021

Maintains popularity but begins slow decline

2022-2024

Continues declining as newer formats emerge

2024-01-01

CEO of... entered the broader pop culture conversation

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The format is dead simple:

1

Comment version: Watch a video or see a post where someone does something distinctive. Comment "CEO of [that thing]." The more specific and unexpected, the better. "CEO of soup" on a cooking video hits harder than "CEO of cooking."

2

Caption version: Post your own content with "CEO of [your thing]" as the caption. Works best when self-deprecating ("CEO of missing the bus") or oddly specific ("CEO of microwaving things for exactly 1:11").

3

Ironic/absurdist version: Pair a serious-looking image with "CEO of [abstract concept]" like "CEO of racism" or "CEO of sex." The humor comes from treating something intangible as a corporation with a literal boss.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The "CEO of..." format left a mark on how people interact in comment sections across platforms. It popularized the idea of crowning someone as the "best" at something using corporate language, a pattern that influenced later TikTok comment trends. The format also fed into the broader internet habit of applying business jargon ironically, alongside phrases like "that's a vibe" and "understood the assignment."

Urban Dictionary entries for the term note its prevalence in TikTok comment culture, defining it as something "usually used in a comment section of social media (especially TikTok) to say 'CEO of ____' and just name anything shown in the video".

The format's longevity comes partly from its low barrier to entry. Unlike template memes that require image editing, "CEO of..." only requires typing a comment, making it one of the most accessible meme formats of the late 2010s.

Fun Facts

The r/okbuddyretard moderators banned the CEO format after just four days because it was flooding the subreddit.

The Jacob Batalon "CEO of Sex" meme used a real red carpet photo from a Spider-Man premiere, not an edited image.

The format works in both directions: as a genuine compliment on TikTok and as absurdist irony on Reddit, which is unusual for meme formats that typically settle into one tone.

"CEO of..." is one of the few meme formats that requires zero image editing, making it purely text-based in its most common form.

Derivatives & Variations

Variations on the CEO theme

A variation of CEO of...

(2019)

Similar corporate-themed formats

A variation of CEO of...

(2019)

Absurdist concept assignments

A variation of CEO of...

(2019)

Frequently Asked Questions

References (3)

  1. 1
    Ryan Cohenencyclopedia
  2. 2
    CEO of... - Urban Dictionarydictionary
  3. 3
    CEO of... - Know Your Memeencyclopedia

CEO of...

2018Catchphrase / comment formatsemi-active

Also known as: CEO of [thing] · CEO meme

CEO of... is a 2018 Twitter catchphrase where users jokingly crown people as Chief Executive Officer of random abilities, becoming TikTok's signature compliment format by 2019.

"CEO of..." is a meme format where someone is jokingly declared the "Chief Executive Officer" of a random trait, action, or abstract concept. The format started on Twitter around 2018 as casual compliments before exploding across Reddit, Instagram, and TikTok in 2019. It became one of TikTok's signature comment section traditions, where users crown video creators as the "CEO of" whatever skill or quirk they just showed off.

snowclone memes catchphrase memes tiktok memes ironic memes

Overview

The "CEO of..." format takes the corporate title of Chief Executive Officer and applies it to something absurd, mundane, or oddly specific. In practice, someone posts a video of themselves making perfect pancakes, and the top comment reads "CEO of pancakes." Someone trips in a funny way, and they're crowned "CEO of falling." The joke works because it borrows the gravitas of a Fortune 500 title and slaps it onto everyday nonsense.

The format operates in two main modes. The sincere version is basically a compliment: telling someone they're so good at something they might as well run the company. The ironic version, which developed on Reddit, treats abstract concepts like racism or sex as if they're corporations with actual CEOs who can be confronted.

The phrase "CEO of..." started circulating on Twitter around 2018 as a casual, hyperbolic way to praise someone. Users would tweet things like "Beyoncé is the CEO of slaying" or call a friend the "CEO of cat-eye liner." At this stage, the format was mostly a straightforward compliment wrapped in corporate metaphor.

The format took an absurdist turn in mid-2019 on Reddit. On June 25, 2019, Redditor ducc777 posted a GigaChad image to r/okbuddyretard with the caption "We want to talk to the CEO of racism," earning over 21,200 upvotes within six days. This kicked off a wave of ironic "CEO of..." posts where users treated abstract concepts as corporations with real executives. The meme spread so fast that r/okbuddyretard moderators banned CEO and Inventor memes on June 29, 2019, just four days later.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (original format), Reddit (ironic variant), TikTok (mainstream spread)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2018

The phrase "CEO of..." started circulating on Twitter around 2018 as a casual, hyperbolic way to praise someone. Users would tweet things like "Beyoncé is the CEO of slaying" or call a friend the "CEO of cat-eye liner." At this stage, the format was mostly a straightforward compliment wrapped in corporate metaphor.

The format took an absurdist turn in mid-2019 on Reddit. On June 25, 2019, Redditor ducc777 posted a GigaChad image to r/okbuddyretard with the caption "We want to talk to the CEO of racism," earning over 21,200 upvotes within six days. This kicked off a wave of ironic "CEO of..." posts where users treated abstract concepts as corporations with real executives. The meme spread so fast that r/okbuddyretard moderators banned CEO and Inventor memes on June 29, 2019, just four days later.

How It Spread

After the Reddit wave, the format branched out across platforms in the second half of 2019. Before July 31, 2019, someone created the "CEO of Sex" meme using a photo of actor Jacob Batalon in a grey suit from the Spider-Man: Homecoming premiere. Redditor Juanisimo1999 reposted it to r/okbuddyretard on July 31, gaining over 200 upvotes, and an Instagram repost by salad.snake on August 11, 2019 pulled in more than 44,200 likes.

On October 26, 2019, Instagram user Rainslurp posted a video of a teenager singing Akon's "Don't Matter" with the caption "The CEO of Swag he wont le you go doe," which went viral as its own standalone meme.

The format's biggest moment came with TikTok's rise in 2020 and 2021. "CEO of..." became a staple of TikTok comment culture, with users flooding comment sections to crown creators as the CEO of whatever they were doing. The hashtag #CEOof gained traction, and creators started using the format in their own captions and bios. The format was flexible enough to work as both genuine praise ("CEO of edits," "CEO of trick shots") and gentle roasting ("CEO of being off beat," "CEO of overcooking").

By 2022, the format's peak had passed on TikTok, though it still pops up regularly. A notable revival happened in January 2025 with the "Matching CEO Names" trend, where users created doctored Google knowledge panels showing fictional CEOs with names matching their companies, like ROBLOX's supposed CEO "Robert Lox".

Platforms

TwitterTikTokRedditInstagram

Timeline

2019

CEO format emerges on social media

2019-2020

Becomes widely used across platforms

2020-01-01

CEO of... started spreading across social media platforms

2021

Maintains popularity but begins slow decline

2022-2024

Continues declining as newer formats emerge

2024-01-01

CEO of... entered the broader pop culture conversation

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The format is dead simple:

1

Comment version: Watch a video or see a post where someone does something distinctive. Comment "CEO of [that thing]." The more specific and unexpected, the better. "CEO of soup" on a cooking video hits harder than "CEO of cooking."

2

Caption version: Post your own content with "CEO of [your thing]" as the caption. Works best when self-deprecating ("CEO of missing the bus") or oddly specific ("CEO of microwaving things for exactly 1:11").

3

Ironic/absurdist version: Pair a serious-looking image with "CEO of [abstract concept]" like "CEO of racism" or "CEO of sex." The humor comes from treating something intangible as a corporation with a literal boss.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The "CEO of..." format left a mark on how people interact in comment sections across platforms. It popularized the idea of crowning someone as the "best" at something using corporate language, a pattern that influenced later TikTok comment trends. The format also fed into the broader internet habit of applying business jargon ironically, alongside phrases like "that's a vibe" and "understood the assignment."

Urban Dictionary entries for the term note its prevalence in TikTok comment culture, defining it as something "usually used in a comment section of social media (especially TikTok) to say 'CEO of ____' and just name anything shown in the video".

The format's longevity comes partly from its low barrier to entry. Unlike template memes that require image editing, "CEO of..." only requires typing a comment, making it one of the most accessible meme formats of the late 2010s.

Fun Facts

The r/okbuddyretard moderators banned the CEO format after just four days because it was flooding the subreddit.

The Jacob Batalon "CEO of Sex" meme used a real red carpet photo from a Spider-Man premiere, not an edited image.

The format works in both directions: as a genuine compliment on TikTok and as absurdist irony on Reddit, which is unusual for meme formats that typically settle into one tone.

"CEO of..." is one of the few meme formats that requires zero image editing, making it purely text-based in its most common form.

Derivatives & Variations

Variations on the CEO theme

A variation of CEO of...

(2019)

Similar corporate-themed formats

A variation of CEO of...

(2019)

Absurdist concept assignments

A variation of CEO of...

(2019)

Frequently Asked Questions

References (3)

  1. 1
    Ryan Cohenencyclopedia
  2. 2
    CEO of... - Urban Dictionarydictionary
  3. 3
    CEO of... - Know Your Memeencyclopedia