Pepe The King Prawn

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Pepe The King Prawn is an image macro meme built around a low-res photo of the Muppets character staring blankly into the camera, paired with captions describing embarrassing or awkward personal moments. The format took off on TikTok in late November 2024, usually set to a choir version of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" from Deadpool & Wolverine.

muppets memestiktok sound trendsimage macro memesself deprecating memesreaction memes

Overview

Pepe The King Prawn is a TikTok image macro that pairs a low-resolution photo of the Muppet, mid blank stare, with captions describing embarrassing, awkward or humiliating personal stories1. The character himself is Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales, a Spanish king prawn from Málaga who debuted on Muppets Tonight in 1996 and is performed by longtime Muppet puppeteer Bill Barretta1.

The TikTok format is usually scored to a choir rendition of Madonna's "Like a Prayer," specifically the version featured in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine2. Text is overlaid across the top of the picture and typically starts with framing like "the face I make when..." before the punchline lands. By late December 2024, the sound had more than 250,000 entries on TikTok1.

How It Spread

The "Like a Prayer" sound spread quickly into early December 2024. On December 3rd, TikToker @nursynurseemily 5 posted an entry reading, "The face I make when I say 'okay awesome' after my patient just told me they had 2 heart attacks and a stroke 9 months ago," reaching over 966,000 views in three days2. The next day, @kalimilan 6 scored more than 13.8 million views in two days with a caption about accidentally saying "slay" to a senior professional at work2.

One of the breakout entries came from Megan Chacalos (@meganchacalos), who told a story about slipping in an olive oil hair treatment and knocking herself out. The clip was popular enough that she was rebranded online as "Olive Oil Girl" and picked up brand deals, including one with Graza olive oil4.

On December 27th, 2024, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Emily Bloch interviewed Barretta about the trend4. He said he heard about Pepe's meme status from his wife and did not know why the character was suddenly everywhere on TikTok4. Muppets puppeteer Frank Oz also said in a 2024 interview that Pepe is his favorite Muppet1.

How to Use This Meme

To make a Pepe The King Prawn edit, creators typically overlay white text across the top of the blank-stare Pepe photo and set the clip to the "Like a Prayer" choir version from Deadpool & Wolverine2. Captions often start with a "the face I make when..." or "me when..." framing, then land on an embarrassing, cringeworthy or emotionally checked-out moment from real life4. The joke works because Pepe's dead-eyed expression reads as the exact face people make when they have run out of reactions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Pepe The King Prawn

2024image macrotrending

Pepe The King Prawn is an image macro meme built around a low-res photo of the Muppets character staring blankly into the camera, paired with captions describing embarrassing or awkward personal moments. The format took off on TikTok in late November 2024, usually set to a choir version of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" from Deadpool & Wolverine.

muppets memes tiktok sound trends image macro memes self deprecating memes reaction memes

Overview

Pepe The King Prawn is a TikTok image macro that pairs a low-resolution photo of the Muppet, mid blank stare, with captions describing embarrassing, awkward or humiliating personal stories1. The character himself is Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales, a Spanish king prawn from Málaga who debuted on Muppets Tonight in 1996 and is performed by longtime Muppet puppeteer Bill Barretta1.

The TikTok format is usually scored to a choir rendition of Madonna's "Like a Prayer," specifically the version featured in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine2. Text is overlaid across the top of the picture and typically starts with framing like "the face I make when..." before the punchline lands. By late December 2024, the sound had more than 250,000 entries on TikTok1.

How It Spread

The "Like a Prayer" sound spread quickly into early December 2024. On December 3rd, TikToker @nursynurseemily 5 posted an entry reading, "The face I make when I say 'okay awesome' after my patient just told me they had 2 heart attacks and a stroke 9 months ago," reaching over 966,000 views in three days2. The next day, @kalimilan 6 scored more than 13.8 million views in two days with a caption about accidentally saying "slay" to a senior professional at work2.

One of the breakout entries came from Megan Chacalos (@meganchacalos), who told a story about slipping in an olive oil hair treatment and knocking herself out. The clip was popular enough that she was rebranded online as "Olive Oil Girl" and picked up brand deals, including one with Graza olive oil4.

On December 27th, 2024, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Emily Bloch interviewed Barretta about the trend4. He said he heard about Pepe's meme status from his wife and did not know why the character was suddenly everywhere on TikTok4. Muppets puppeteer Frank Oz also said in a 2024 interview that Pepe is his favorite Muppet1.

How to Use This Meme

To make a Pepe The King Prawn edit, creators typically overlay white text across the top of the blank-stare Pepe photo and set the clip to the "Like a Prayer" choir version from Deadpool & Wolverine2. Captions often start with a "the face I make when..." or "me when..." framing, then land on an embarrassing, cringeworthy or emotionally checked-out moment from real life4. The joke works because Pepe's dead-eyed expression reads as the exact face people make when they have run out of reactions.

Frequently Asked Questions