Sad Keanu is a 2010 photoshop meme built from a paparazzi photo of Keanu Reeves eating a sandwich alone on a park bench, edited into countless new settings by fans[7].

Where did Sad Keanu come from?

The image was shot in May 2010 by Splash News paparazzo Ron Asadorian, and the first known photoshop thread appeared on Green-ovale.net's /tv/ board on May 23, 2010[6].

What does Sad Keanu mean?

The meme uses Reeves's slumped bench pose as a lonely, downcast figure that fans either place in absurd new locations or surround with cheer-up companions[4].

How do you use Sad Keanu?

Editors typically cut the sandwich-eating Reeves out of the original photograph and paste him into a new backdrop, or add friendly figures beside him for the cheer-up version[3].

Is Sad Keanu still popular?

Its June 2010 peak ended fast after the DMCA takedown of SadKeanu.com on June 17, and the site's June 18 shift to silhouettes-only submissions marked the end of its heavy viral run[5].

Sad Keanu

2010photoshop memeclassic

Sad Keanu is a 2010 photoshop meme built from a paparazzi shot of Keanu Reeves eating a sandwich alone on a park bench. Editors cut the slumped actor out of the frame and dropped him into new backdrops, while a parallel branch added cartoon companions to cheer him up. It broke wide on Reddit in early June 2010 and led to a fan-organized Cheer Up Keanu Day event.

photoshop memes celebrity reaction memes exploitable templates unwilling celebrity memes early 2010s memes

Overview

Sad Keanu is a photoshop meme built around a paparazzi shot of actor Keanu Reeves sitting alone on a park bench, slumped forward and eating a sandwich with a downcast expression7. Editors cut the mopey Reeves figure out of the original frame and drop him into new photoshopped scenes, treating the slumped pose as a portable prop3.

A parallel branch of the meme pastes cartoon friends, animals, rainbows, or celebrity companions next to the bench in edited attempts to cheer him up4. In the months after Sad Keanu peaked, a family of spin-off Keanu Reeves photoshop memes followed, including Sad Keanu in a Helmet in July 2010, Happy Keanu and Tai Chi Keanu in October, and a Sad Laurence Fishburne edition featuring Reeves's Matrix co-star that arrived in December6.

How It Spread

Reddit lit up over the next few days with tribute threads including 'Instead of Chuck Norris, let's make Keanu Reeves a meme,' 'Keanu Reeves is Hungry,' and 'Oh Keanu'. Urlesque ran a write-up on June 7, 2010 called 'Sad Keanu: The Latest Image Macro', and BuzzFeed user memecore followed on June 8 with '10 Best Sad Keanu Images,' which climbed into the site's Top 10 list for that day.

The edits jumped to Tumblr next, where a dedicated Sad Keanu Tumblr launched on June 10, 2010 and the standalone blog SadKeanu.com went live four days later on June 14. On June 17, SadKeanu.com received a DMCA takedown from Splash News, which held copyright to the original bench photo. The next day, site admin Dan replaced every user submission with a farewell post and switched the site to silhouettes and non-bench renderings only.

Fans organized a Facebook event called 'Cheer Up Keanu Day' for June 15, 2010, encouraging people to send Reeves letters, gifts, phone messages, and donations to cancer research. Press coverage picked up at Entertainment Weekly, the Washington Post, E! Online and Time Magazine. Reeves himself briefly addressed his sudden internet fame in a January 18, 2011 BBC studio interview.

How to Use This Meme

To make a Sad Keanu edit, editors typically cut the sandwich-eating Reeves out of the original 2010 park bench photograph and paste him into a new backdrop, keeping his slumped pose and downcast expression intact. The cheer-up variation adds friendly figures, cartoon animals, rainbows, or celebrity companions to the bench instead of relocating him.

Frequently Asked Questions

References (7)

Sad Keanu

2010photoshop memeclassic

photoshop memes celebrity reaction memes exploitable templates unwilling celebrity memes early 2010s memes

Overview

Sad Keanu is a photoshop meme built around a paparazzi shot of actor Keanu Reeves sitting alone on a park bench, slumped forward and eating a sandwich with a downcast expression. Editors cut the mopey Reeves figure out of the original frame and drop him into new photoshopped scenes, treating the slumped pose as a portable prop.

A parallel branch of the meme pastes cartoon friends, animals, rainbows, or celebrity companions next to the bench in edited attempts to cheer him up. In the months after Sad Keanu peaked, a family of spin-off Keanu Reeves photoshop memes followed, including Sad Keanu in a Helmet in July 2010, Happy Keanu and Tai Chi Keanu in October, and a Sad Laurence Fishburne edition featuring Reeves's Matrix co-star that arrived in December.