What is Gay Clown Putin?

Gay Clown Putin is a series of photoshopped images that show Vladimir Putin wearing colorful clown-style makeup, most often paired with a rainbow flag background.

Where did Gay Clown Putin come from?

The first images were posted in April 2013 on a Tumblr blog called Putin A Rainbow, which was set up to protest Russia's ban on so-called gay propaganda.

What does Gay Clown Putin mean?

The images are protest art aimed at Russia's anti-LGBT laws, and they turned into a Streisand Effect meme after Russian authorities officially banned them in March 2017.

How do you use Gay Clown Putin?

People take an official Putin portrait and edit it with clown makeup, teal eye shadow, pink lipstick, and often yellow hair, typically over a rainbow flag background.

Is Gay Clown Putin still popular?

The images peaked in early April 2017 during the Reddit surge tied to Russia's ban, with follow-up remixes hosted on the /r/GayClownPutin subreddit and cross-posts to /r/MemeEconomy.

Gay Clown Putin

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Published August 23, 2026

Gay Clown Putin is a series of photoshopped images showing Russian President Vladimir Putin painted in loud clown-style makeup, often against a rainbow flag. The pictures started in 2013 as protest art against Russia's anti-LGBT propaganda law, then exploded on Reddit in March 2017 after Russia officially banned them.

protest memes lgbtq memes photoshop memes streisand effect memes political satire memes

Overview

Gay Clown Putin is a family of photoshopped portraits that show Russian President Vladimir Putin caked in loud clown-style makeup, most often with a rainbow flag behind him3. The pictures were made as protest art against the Russian anti-LGBT propaganda law passed in 20131. Widespread meme fame came in 2017 after Russia officially banned the images, a textbook Streisand Effect moment that pushed millions of new eyes onto the pictures4.

The visual template is easy to spot: presidential-style portraits recolored with teal eye shadow, pink lipstick, blush, and sometimes bright yellow hair, occasionally stamped with slogans about homophobia written across Putin's forehead4.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Tumblr (origin) / Reddit (viral spread)

Creator

Unknown

Date

2013

The images trace back to April 2013, when a Tumblr blog called Putin A Rainbow started posting edits of Putin decorated with rainbows to protest Russia's ban on so-called gay propaganda4. On April 9th, 2013, the blog put up 'Drag Putin a la Warhol,' a portrait of Putin in colorful makeup in front of a rainbow4. The original Tumblr blog was later removed from the site.

How It Spread

On August 23rd, 2013, Getty photographer Denis Doyle shot a demonstrator standing outside the Russian embassy in Madrid holding a placard of a made-up Putin with 'Stop Homofobia' written across his forehead1. In October 2015, a Russian WordPress blog called Kosmologelei posted more Putin edits featuring blush and eye shadow, keeping the joke alive in Russian-language corners of the internet4.

The meme broke out on March 30th, 2017, when Russia's Justice Ministry added the images to its Federal List of Extremist Materials4. That same evening, Reddit user GorillaS0up posted a Putin-with-LGBT-flag edit to /r/pics under the headline 'This image is now illegal in Russia,' pulling roughly 279,000 votes and 4,100 comments in 14 hours2. The picture also crossed the front page of /r/ImGoingtoGulagforThis5 and /r/ImGoingToHellForThis6 within the same news cycle.

On April 6th, 2017, Redditor TheDavyStar launched the /r/GayClownPutin subreddit, kicking it off with a post of Putin sporting yellow hair, teal eye shadow, and pink lipstick that pulled more than 1,800 votes inside seven hours3. Later that same day, Redditor NUDEandCONFUSED remixed the format by pasting Putin onto the Bearsharktopus and posting it to /r/MemeEconomy3.

How to Use This Meme

A typical Gay Clown Putin edit starts with an official-looking Putin portrait that is then repainted with heavy clown-style makeup: teal or bright eye shadow, pink lipstick, blush, and often yellow hair3. Common versions layer a rainbow flag or pride colors into the background, and some add text like 'Stop Homofobia' across the forehead as a callback to the 2013 Madrid protest sign1.