# Pepe The King Prawn 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. ## 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 stories[1]. 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 Barretta[1]. 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 & Wolverine[2]. 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 TikTok[1]. ## 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 days[2]. 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 work[2]. 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 oil[4]. On December 27th, 2024, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Emily Bloch interviewed Barretta about the trend[4]. He said he heard about Pepe's meme status from his wife and did not know why the character was suddenly everywhere on TikTok[4]. Muppets puppeteer Frank Oz also said in a 2024 interview that Pepe is his favorite Muppet[1]. ## How to Use 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 & Wolverine[2]. 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 life[4]. 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 ### What is Pepe The King Prawn? Pepe The King Prawn is both a Muppets character created for Muppets Tonight in 1996 and, since late 2024, a TikTok image macro built around a photo of him staring blankly with captions about embarrassing personal moments[1]. ### Where did Pepe The King Prawn come from? The meme started on TikTok on November 30th, 2024, when @caitycline21 posted the earliest known edit of the blank-stare Pepe photo, followed the same day by a "Like a Prayer" version that hit 3.4 million views[2]. ### What does Pepe The King Prawn mean? The image is used to represent the burned-out, blank face people make in humiliating or emotionally overwhelming situations, like getting yelled at by a customer or saying the wrong thing at work[2]. ### How do you use Pepe The King Prawn? Users typically pair the blank-stare Pepe photo with a "the face I make when..." caption describing an embarrassing story, set to the "Like a Prayer" choir version from Deadpool & Wolverine[4]. ### Is Pepe The King Prawn still popular? The trend was still climbing at the end of December 2024, with the sound passing 250,000 TikTok entries by the time Bill Barretta was interviewed about it on December 27th[4]. ## References 1. [https://www.inquirer.com/news/nation-world/pepe-muppet-meme-tiktok-king-prawn-bill-barretta-sesame-place-interview-20241227.html]() 2. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pepe-the-king-prawn]() 3. [https://www.tiktok.com/@caitycline21]() 4. [https://www.tiktok.com/@nursynurseemily]() 5. [https://www.tiktok.com/@kalimilan]() 6. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZHpBUqvHh0]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/pepe-the-king-prawn Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library