Shirtless John McAfee holding a revolver to his head

John McAfee

2013viral videoclassic

Published September 2, 2026

John McAfee was the eccentric antivirus software founder turned crypto guru whose bizarre life, from a 2012 Belize murder scandal to a 2013 uninstall video with strippers and cocaine, made him one of the internet's favorite chaos characters. His name later became a verb in crypto slang and a conspiracy rallying cry after his 2021 death.

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Overview

John McAfee started as a legit tech figure, the guy who built McAfee Associates in 1987 and gave his name to the antivirus that came preinstalled on half the PCs of the 1990s3. The meme version of him is completely different, a wild eyed fugitive posting from hotel rooms, running for president under a party he invented, and telling everyone that if he ever died by suicide it would be a lie1.

His internet legacy runs across a few overlapping formats. There's the 2013 uninstall video, which is quoted and reaction gifed constantly. There's the crypto era McAfee, whose tweets moved altcoin prices and produced the slang verb 'to John McAfee' something, meaning to pump or dump a coin with fake hype2. And after his 2021 death in a Spanish prison cell, 'John McAfee didn't kill himself' became a stock conspiracy punchline used the way 'Epstein didn't kill himself' is used2.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (viral spread) / Twitter
Creator
John McAfee
Date
2013

John McAfee was an American programmer who founded the antivirus company McAfee Associates in 1987 and left the company seven years later3. The character that became the meme took shape after April 2012, when Belize police raided his property over unlicensed drug manufacturing and weapons claims and released him without charge1. In November 2012 he fled the country after being named a person of interest in the murder of his neighbor Gregory Viant Faull, and Vice accidentally outed his hiding spot in Guatemala the following month by publishing a photo with the EXIF geolocation still in it1.

The meme itself really landed in June 2013, when McAfee uploaded a video titled 'How to Uninstall McAfee Antivirus' to YouTube4. In it he snorts a white powder, gets undressed by women in lingerie, waves a handgun around, and eventually shoots a laptop with a McAfee installer on the screen1.

How It Spread

The uninstall video was the moment McAfee stopped being a tech CEO name and started being an internet character. It piled up millions of views on YouTube and got reposted endlessly as proof that the guy behind your antivirus was completely off the rails4. He followed it up in March 2014 with 'John McAfee the Real Most Interesting Man in the World,' a self parody of the Dos Equis ads1.

His @officialmcafee Twitter account, launched in November 2012, became the main feed for the meme1. In September 2015 he announced a presidential run under a self styled 'Cyber Party,' and CNN covered the launch a day later1. The 2018 hospital arc kept the character alive online, when he tweeted that his enemies had poisoned him at Vidant Medical Center in North Carolina, then posted a middle finger photo from the bed next to his wife with a message to his 'incompetent enemies,' which The Daily Dot wrote up as people ridiculed the posts5.

The crypto years turned McAfee into a live meme generator. Urban Dictionary defines 'a John McAfee' as crypto slang for hyping or trashing a coin with fake news to move the price, then lying about having done it, named after him because his tweets kept moving altcoin markets2. After he was found dead in a Barcelona prison cell in June 2021, hours after a Spanish court approved his extradition to the US, 'John McAfee didn't kill himself' became a recurring conspiracy line, and Urban Dictionary entries recorded the joke as 'a guy who didn't kill himself'2.

How to Use This Meme

The uninstall video is typically quoted or clipped as a reaction to anything involving corporate software, security theater, or unhinged tech founder energy. The 'John McAfee' crypto verb is commonly used in trading chats when a coin spikes or crashes on obvious hype, as in 'that token just got John McAfee'd.' The 'didn't kill himself' line is used the same way the Epstein version is used, as a sarcastic tag on any story where the official cause of death feels convenient.

Frequently Asked Questions