Have The Rolling Stones Killed

1993Image macro / exploitable templatesemi-active
Have The Rolling Stones Killed is a mid-2010s image-macro exploitable from The Simpsons' 1993 episode "Rosebud," featuring Mr. Burns mistakenly ordering Smithers to kill the Rolling Stones, repurposed to joke about mix-ups between similarly named things.

"Have the Rolling Stones Killed" is an exploitable image macro from *The Simpsons* in which Mr. Burns orders his assistant Smithers to kill "the Rolling Stones" after mistaking them for the Ramones. The quote comes from the 1993 episode "Rosebud," and the meme format took off in the mid-2010s as people edited the screenshot to joke about mix-ups between similarly named things.

simpsonsexploitable templatesmusic memesmistaken identity memes

Overview

The meme uses screenshots from *The Simpsons* showing Mr. Burns instructing Smithers to "have the Rolling Stones killed" after watching the Ramones perform at his birthday party. Burns, characteristically out of touch, can't tell the punk band apart from the classic rock group. The template works by swapping in any two things that share a name or get confused for each other, with Burns ordering the wrong one killed. It's a clean, versatile format for mistaken identity jokes.

The quote comes from "Rosebud," the fourth episode of *The Simpsons*' fifth season, which first aired on Fox on October 21, 19933. Written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wes Archer, the episode follows Mr. Burns on a quest to recover his childhood teddy bear Bobo3. The Ramones (Joey, Johnny, C.J., and Marky Ramone) guest-starred as themselves, performing a mocking rendition of "Happy Birthday" at Burns' party3. After the performance, an irritated Burns orders Smithers to "have the Rolling Stones killed," confusing the two bands entirely1.

The Ramones were reportedly "gigantic, obsessive Simpsons fans," and drummer Marky Ramone later called their appearance "a career highlight"3. The episode itself is widely considered one of the show's best, with *Entertainment Weekly* ranking it second on their list of the 25 greatest *Simpsons* episodes in 20033.

Origin & Background

Platform
Fox Network (source episode), Reddit (meme spread)
Key People
John Swartzwelder, EggCouncilCreeper
Date
1993 (source material), ~2015 (meme format)

The quote comes from "Rosebud," the fourth episode of *The Simpsons*' fifth season, which first aired on Fox on October 21, 1993. Written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wes Archer, the episode follows Mr. Burns on a quest to recover his childhood teddy bear Bobo. The Ramones (Joey, Johnny, C.J., and Marky Ramone) guest-starred as themselves, performing a mocking rendition of "Happy Birthday" at Burns' party. After the performance, an irritated Burns orders Smithers to "have the Rolling Stones killed," confusing the two bands entirely.

The Ramones were reportedly "gigantic, obsessive Simpsons fans," and drummer Marky Ramone later called their appearance "a career highlight". The episode itself is widely considered one of the show's best, with *Entertainment Weekly* ranking it second on their list of the 25 greatest *Simpsons* episodes in 2003.

How It Spread

The scene sat dormant online for years before a YouTube clip uploaded by The Journeymen on November 30, 2011 brought it to a wider internet audience, picking up over 30,000 views.

The meme format proper kicked off on October 5, 2015, when Redditor EggCouncilCreeper posted a screenshot of Burns saying the line to r/TheSimpsons, earning over 800 upvotes. Three years later, on June 15, 2018, Redditor spiderhombre repurposed the format in response to Robbie Williams' World Cup performance, captioning the post "Have Morrissey killed". That post hit 2,100 points with a 96% upvote rate and 65 comments, showing the template worked well beyond its original Ramones/Rolling Stones context.

The format then migrated to Facebook's Simpsons Shitposting group, where user Crash McLarson posted a variation swapping in the black metal bands Mayhem and Burzum. On May 31 of that same year, Facebook user Neal Schoonmaker posted a version where Burns confuses *Avatar: The Last Airbender* with the 2009 James Cameron film *Avatar*, pulling in over 1,000 reactions in just four days.

How to Use This Meme

The format follows a simple pattern:

1

Start with a screenshot of Mr. Burns watching something he doesn't recognize (or a text setup describing the confusion).

2

Burns mistakes Thing A for Thing B, where A and B share a name or are commonly mixed up.

3

Burns orders Smithers to "have [wrong name] killed."

Fun Facts

"Rosebud" is largely a parody of Orson Welles' *Citizen Kane*, with Burns' teddy bear Bobo standing in for Kane's sled "Rosebud".

The episode's original script included a scene where Bobo was involved in the assassination of JFK, but the writers cut it for being in bad taste.

A deleted ending featured Washington D.C. being destroyed by invading Canadian troops who find Bobo.

Smithers reminds Burns of his existing possessions, which include "King Arthur's Excalibur" and "the only existing nude photo of Mark Twain".

Derivatives & Variations

Band name swaps:

The most common variation, replacing the Ramones/Rolling Stones mix-up with other commonly confused musical acts[1].

Mayhem/Burzum version:

A niche black metal variation posted in the Simpsons Shitposting Facebook group[1].

Avatar/Avatar: The Last Airbender version:

One of the most popular variations, playing on the shared title between the animated series and the James Cameron film, which earned over 1,000 reactions[1].

Robbie Williams/Morrissey version:

A World Cup-timed edit that became one of the format's biggest Reddit hits with 2,100+ upvotes[1].

Frequently Asked Questions

Have The Rolling Stones Killed

1993Image macro / exploitable templatesemi-active
Have The Rolling Stones Killed is a mid-2010s image-macro exploitable from The Simpsons' 1993 episode "Rosebud," featuring Mr. Burns mistakenly ordering Smithers to kill the Rolling Stones, repurposed to joke about mix-ups between similarly named things.

"Have the Rolling Stones Killed" is an exploitable image macro from *The Simpsons* in which Mr. Burns orders his assistant Smithers to kill "the Rolling Stones" after mistaking them for the Ramones. The quote comes from the 1993 episode "Rosebud," and the meme format took off in the mid-2010s as people edited the screenshot to joke about mix-ups between similarly named things.

simpsons exploitable templates music memes mistaken identity memes

Overview

The meme uses screenshots from *The Simpsons* showing Mr. Burns instructing Smithers to "have the Rolling Stones killed" after watching the Ramones perform at his birthday party. Burns, characteristically out of touch, can't tell the punk band apart from the classic rock group. The template works by swapping in any two things that share a name or get confused for each other, with Burns ordering the wrong one killed. It's a clean, versatile format for mistaken identity jokes.

The quote comes from "Rosebud," the fourth episode of *The Simpsons*' fifth season, which first aired on Fox on October 21, 1993. Written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wes Archer, the episode follows Mr. Burns on a quest to recover his childhood teddy bear Bobo. The Ramones (Joey, Johnny, C.J., and Marky Ramone) guest-starred as themselves, performing a mocking rendition of "Happy Birthday" at Burns' party. After the performance, an irritated Burns orders Smithers to "have the Rolling Stones killed," confusing the two bands entirely.

The Ramones were reportedly "gigantic, obsessive Simpsons fans," and drummer Marky Ramone later called their appearance "a career highlight". The episode itself is widely considered one of the show's best, with *Entertainment Weekly* ranking it second on their list of the 25 greatest *Simpsons* episodes in 2003.

Origin & Background

Platform
Fox Network (source episode), Reddit (meme spread)
Key People
John Swartzwelder, EggCouncilCreeper
Date
1993 (source material), ~2015 (meme format)

The quote comes from "Rosebud," the fourth episode of *The Simpsons*' fifth season, which first aired on Fox on October 21, 1993. Written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wes Archer, the episode follows Mr. Burns on a quest to recover his childhood teddy bear Bobo. The Ramones (Joey, Johnny, C.J., and Marky Ramone) guest-starred as themselves, performing a mocking rendition of "Happy Birthday" at Burns' party. After the performance, an irritated Burns orders Smithers to "have the Rolling Stones killed," confusing the two bands entirely.

The Ramones were reportedly "gigantic, obsessive Simpsons fans," and drummer Marky Ramone later called their appearance "a career highlight". The episode itself is widely considered one of the show's best, with *Entertainment Weekly* ranking it second on their list of the 25 greatest *Simpsons* episodes in 2003.

How It Spread

The scene sat dormant online for years before a YouTube clip uploaded by The Journeymen on November 30, 2011 brought it to a wider internet audience, picking up over 30,000 views.

The meme format proper kicked off on October 5, 2015, when Redditor EggCouncilCreeper posted a screenshot of Burns saying the line to r/TheSimpsons, earning over 800 upvotes. Three years later, on June 15, 2018, Redditor spiderhombre repurposed the format in response to Robbie Williams' World Cup performance, captioning the post "Have Morrissey killed". That post hit 2,100 points with a 96% upvote rate and 65 comments, showing the template worked well beyond its original Ramones/Rolling Stones context.

The format then migrated to Facebook's Simpsons Shitposting group, where user Crash McLarson posted a variation swapping in the black metal bands Mayhem and Burzum. On May 31 of that same year, Facebook user Neal Schoonmaker posted a version where Burns confuses *Avatar: The Last Airbender* with the 2009 James Cameron film *Avatar*, pulling in over 1,000 reactions in just four days.

How to Use This Meme

The format follows a simple pattern:

1

Start with a screenshot of Mr. Burns watching something he doesn't recognize (or a text setup describing the confusion).

2

Burns mistakes Thing A for Thing B, where A and B share a name or are commonly mixed up.

3

Burns orders Smithers to "have [wrong name] killed."

Fun Facts

"Rosebud" is largely a parody of Orson Welles' *Citizen Kane*, with Burns' teddy bear Bobo standing in for Kane's sled "Rosebud".

The episode's original script included a scene where Bobo was involved in the assassination of JFK, but the writers cut it for being in bad taste.

A deleted ending featured Washington D.C. being destroyed by invading Canadian troops who find Bobo.

Smithers reminds Burns of his existing possessions, which include "King Arthur's Excalibur" and "the only existing nude photo of Mark Twain".

Derivatives & Variations

Band name swaps:

The most common variation, replacing the Ramones/Rolling Stones mix-up with other commonly confused musical acts[1].

Mayhem/Burzum version:

A niche black metal variation posted in the Simpsons Shitposting Facebook group[1].

Avatar/Avatar: The Last Airbender version:

One of the most popular variations, playing on the shared title between the animated series and the James Cameron film, which earned over 1,000 reactions[1].

Robbie Williams/Morrissey version:

A World Cup-timed edit that became one of the format's biggest Reddit hits with 2,100+ upvotes[1].

Frequently Asked Questions