# Shirtless Alex Jones at Lunch Shirtless Alex Jones at Lunch is a photograph of the Infowars host eating a meal bare-chested while flashing two thumbs up, taken during a Der Spiegel profile in February 2017. The image ran as the article's header despite no explanation for why Jones removed his shirt, and within a day it turned into a Twitter caption and Photoshop target that news outlets rushed to cover. ## Origin On February 28th, 2017, Der Spiegel published an English-language profile of Alex Jones and his Infowars operation. The article's header was a photo of Jones eating lunch shirtless with both thumbs raised, and the reporter noted that Jones took off his shirt during the visit without offering a reason[1]. The picture ran alongside straight political reporting on Jones's relationship to the Trump administration, which set up the tonal clash internet users seized on. Jones was not new to the format on his own channels. Esquire had already collected a set of shirtless Alex Jones pictures in October 2016 after he posted one of himself on a horse, so the Der Spiegel frame slotted into an existing pattern of self-promotion Jones ran on his social feeds[2]. The meme's format creator is unconfirmed; the photo itself was taken by Der Spiegel's photographer for the profile, and the earliest Photoshops and captions were spread anonymously through Twitter[3]. - **Platform:** Der Spiegel (source photo) / Twitter (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2017 ## Overview The image itself is straightforward: Alex Jones sitting at a lunch table without a shirt, giving a double thumbs-up to the camera with food in front of him[1]. What made it fuel for jokes was the context. It ran as the top-of-page image on a serious German news profile, so readers hit a bare-chested talk radio host before they hit a single line of reporting[1]. Jones had already built a reputation for shirtless posing on social media, including a picture of himself on horseback that Esquire compiled with other examples in October 2016[2]. The format that grew around the photo is mostly caption-and-Photoshop. Users pasted Jones into unrelated scenes or wrote punchlines under the original frame, treating the pose and expression as a self-contained bit[3]. On Reddit, one early comment tagged the image with a 'hot dogs defrosting in the sink' vibe that circulated as a shorthand for the whole aesthetic[4]. ## How It Spread Within a day of the Der Spiegel article going live, the picture was circulating on Twitter as a caption template and Photoshop base. Users dropped Jones into other scenes and wrote punchlines under the raw image, and Twitter compiled the reactions into a Moment on March 1st[3]. On Reddit, user Isai76 posted the picture to r/NeckbeardNests on February 28th with the line 'Alex Jones has the hot dogs defrosting in the sink vibe,' which pulled 64 upvotes[5]. Mainstream and blog press covered the reaction almost immediately. Gothamist ran a post on February 28th playing off the shirt removal[6], AOL News followed on March 1st with a piece titled 'Photo of a shirtless Alex Jones sets the internet ablaze'[7], and Death and Taxes filed a write-up focused on a BBQ sausage line from the original Der Spiegel piece[8]. Know Your Meme documented the image and the reaction wave the same week[3]. Jones's own shirtless bits kept the picture in rotation as a reference point, including a segment where he ripped off his shirt during a rant about Hillary Clinton that was one of the clips fans pointed back to when explaining the meme[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Shirtless Alex Jones at Lunch? It is a photograph of Alex Jones eating lunch without a shirt and giving two thumbs up, taken for a Der Spiegel profile and turned into a Twitter caption and Photoshop target in early 2017[1][3]. ### Where did Shirtless Alex Jones at Lunch come from? Der Spiegel used the image as the header for its February 28th, 2017 profile of the Infowars host, noting that Jones removed his shirt during the interview without explanation[1]. ### What does Shirtless Alex Jones at Lunch mean? It is used as a joke image, with users writing punchline captions under it or Photoshopping Jones into unrelated scenes[3]. A Reddit comment describing it as a 'hot dogs defrosting in the sink' vibe became one of the early framings[5]. ### How do you use Shirtless Alex Jones at Lunch? People typically pair the original frame with a caption or edit Jones into another scene while keeping the shirtless pose and thumbs-up gesture intact, a pattern seen across the tweets Twitter gathered into a Moment on March 1st, 2017[3]. ### Is Shirtless Alex Jones at Lunch still popular? It is a classic 2017 image that still gets referenced as a shorthand for Jones's shirtless persona, though its peak circulation was the week Der Spiegel's article ran and the news write-ups followed[6][7]. ## References 1. [http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-visit-to-the-infowars-studios-of-alex-jones-a-1136654.html]() 2. [http://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/news/a49246/alex-jones-shirtless/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/shirtless-alex-jones-at-lunch]() 4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/NeckbeardNests/comments/5wr52v/alex_jones_has_the_hot_dogs_defrosting_in_the/]() 5. [https://www.reddit.com/r/NeckbeardNests/comments/5wr52v/alex_jones_has_the_hot_dogs_defrosting_in_the/]() 6. [http://gothamist.com/2017/02/28/it_rubs_the_lotion_on_its_skin.php]() 7. [https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/01/photo-of-a-shirtless-alex-jones-sets-the-internet-ablaze/21864859/]() 8. [http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/320170/alex-jones-shirtless-suck-on-bbq-sausage-der-spiegel/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/shirtless-alex-jones-at-lunch Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library