Obunga

2013Cursed image / photoshopsemi-active

Published March 31, 2026

Also known as: Juhrack Johbama

Obunga is a photoshopped "cursed image" of former U.S. President Barack Obama, warped to resemble the roach-like creatures from the Japanese manga *Terra Formars*. The image first surfaced on 4chan's /tv/ board in mid-2013, spent years in relative obscurity, then exploded across Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit in June 2018 after PewDiePie featured it in a video. A second wave of popularity hit in summer 2022 when Obunga became a popular Nextbot chase mod in Garry's Mod.

obama memesphotoshop memescursed content memes4chan memesdelayed virality memes

Overview

Obunga, a heavily distorted edit of Barack Obama's official presidential portrait, manipulated so his face takes on the grotesque, bug-eyed appearance of the humanoid cockroach antagonists from Yuu Sasuga's manga *Terra Formars*1. The result is an unsettling, almost alien-looking face that sits squarely in cursed image territory. The image is frequently paired with audio from the horror game *Five Nights at Freddy's*, turning it into a screamer-style video format2. Part of what made Obunga stick was its sheer visual discomfort. It doesn't look like a typical political caricature or joke edit. It looks wrong in a way that's hard to shake, which gave it staying power in cursed image threads and horror meme compilations.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan (/tv/ board)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2013

The earliest known instance of the Obunga photoshop was posted to 4chan's /tv/ (television and film) board on July 24, 20134. The original thread context and the identity of whoever created the edit are both unknown. No one has claimed authorship, and the anonymous posting culture of 4chan means tracking it down is likely impossible2. The image sat relatively dormant for nearly three years after that initial post.

On March 29, 2016, the photoshopped face reappeared on 4chan's /v/ (video games) board, this time uploaded under the filename "Juhrack Johbama.jpg"1. This crossover from /tv/ to /v/ marked the beginning of Obunga's slow migration across platforms, though it would take another two years before the meme truly broke out.

How It Spread

The YouTube era of Obunga kicked off on February 14, 2018, when a user named Homosneksual uploaded a short clip titled "Obunga.mov" featuring the image set to the "new round" sound effect from *Call of Duty: World at War*4. The marriage of creepy image and horror audio was a natural fit, and on June 11, 2018, YouTuber Maguku uploaded what became the defining version: Obunga paired with the iconic *Five Nights at Freddy's* music1.

June 2018 was the month Obunga went everywhere. Multiple Instagram accounts started posting Obunga screamer videos, building an audience of viewers who loved being jump-scared. On June 15, Instagram user @bepis.man posted a *FNAF*-scored Obunga clip that pulled in over 31,000 views and 3,200 likes4. Six days later, @bepis.man followed up with another post that hit 44,000 views and nearly 5,000 likes1.

The real tipping point came on June 27, 2018, when PewDiePie uploaded a video titled "OBUNGA ELAS THICC GIRL." The video pulled 2.7 million views and 35,200 comments within its first 24 hours2. As the most subscribed individual creator on YouTube at the time, PewDiePie's coverage pushed Obunga into mainstream meme awareness. As one analysis noted, PewDiePie's "meme review" videos tend to mark both the peak and the beginning of the end for a meme's lifecycle2.

The very next day, June 28, Reddit user CharlotteNetherlands posted a captioned Obunga variation to r/okbuddyretard, where it earned over 1,000 upvotes with a 91% approval rate and 60 comments in 15 hours1. Around the same time, user TheMemeKid submitted an edit that blended Obunga with Sans from *Undertale* to r/dankmemes4.

Frequently Asked Questions