# Have The Rolling Stones Killed > 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. ## Origin The quote comes from "Rosebud," the fourth episode of *The Simpsons*' fifth season, which first aired on Fox on October 21, 1993[3]. Written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wes Archer, the episode follows Mr. Burns on a quest to recover his childhood teddy bear Bobo[3]. The Ramones (Joey, Johnny, C.J., and Marky Ramone) guest-starred as themselves, performing a mocking rendition of "Happy Birthday" at Burns' party[3]. After the performance, an irritated Burns orders Smithers to "have the Rolling Stones killed," confusing the two bands entirely[1]. 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 2003[3]. - **Platform:** Fox Network (source episode), Reddit (meme spread) - **Creator:** John Swartzwelder (writer of "Rosebud" episode), EggCouncilCreeper (early Reddit poster) - **Date:** 1993 (source material), ~2015 (meme format) ## 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. ## 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[1]. 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[1]. 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"[1]. 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[1]. 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[1]. 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[1]. ## How to Use 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"[3]. - 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[3]. - A deleted ending featured Washington D.C. being destroyed by invading Canadian troops who find Bobo[3]. - Smithers reminds Burns of his existing possessions, which include "King Arthur's Excalibur" and "the only existing nude photo of Mark Twain"[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is "Have the Rolling Stones Killed"? It's a meme template based on a scene from *The Simpsons* where Mr. Burns mistakes the Ramones for the Rolling Stones and orders Smithers to have them killed[1]. ### Where did "Have the Rolling Stones Killed" come from? The line is from the *Simpsons* episode "Rosebud," which aired on October 21, 1993[3]. The meme format started spreading on Reddit around 2015[1]. ### What does "Have the Rolling Stones Killed" mean? The meme is used to joke about mistaken identity. People edit the template to show Burns confusing two similarly named things, like bands, movies, or shows[1]. ### How do you use "Have the Rolling Stones Killed"? Pick two things that share a name or are commonly confused. Frame it so Burns sees one but calls it the other, then orders the wrong one killed[1]. ### Is "Have the Rolling Stones Killed" still popular? The format saw its biggest activity between 2015 and 2019, particularly in Simpsons-focused communities on Reddit and Facebook[1]. It still pops up when a good name-confusion pairing presents itself. ### What episode of The Simpsons is this from? "Rosebud," Season 5, Episode 4, which first aired on Fox on October 21, 1993[3]. ### Who wrote the episode? John Swartzwelder wrote the episode, with Wes Archer directing[3]. ### Did the Ramones really appear on The Simpsons? Yes. Joey, Johnny, C.J., and Marky Ramone all guest-starred as themselves, and Marky Ramone called it "a career highlight"[3]. ### What is the Simpsons Shitposting group? A large Facebook community dedicated to *Simpsons* memes, where several popular variations of this template were shared[1]. ## References 1. [Epstein didn't kill himself]() 2. [Rosebud (The Simpsons)]() 3. [Have the Rolling Stones Killed - Know Your Meme]() 4. [Rosebud (The Simpsons) - Wikipedia]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/have-the-rolling-stones-killed Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library