Steven Seagals Good Morning Britain Interview

2017Image macro / reaction imagedead
Steven Seagals Good Morning Britain Interview is a 2017 image-macro meme from a satellite interview where the action star's jet-black hair, dark sunglasses, matching goatee, and Mandarin-collar jacket prompted comparisons to Bond villains and video-game characters.

Steven Seagal's Good Morning Britain Interview is a meme born from a September 2017 satellite interview in which the action star appeared on ITV's morning show from Moscow, looking so dramatically different from his 1990s heyday that Twitter turned his screenshot into an instant joke factory. Viewers zeroed in on his dyed jet-black hair, matching goatee, dark glasses, and Mandarin-collar jacket, spawning a wave of image macros comparing him to Bond villains, Batman antagonists, and badly rendered video game characters.

steven seagal memescelebrity appearance memesimage macro memespolitical satire memes2017 memes

Overview

The meme centers on a single broadcast screenshot of Steven Seagal sitting in what appears to be a dimly lit Moscow studio, wearing a black wool jacket buttoned to the throat, black-framed oval glasses, and sporting a dyed black widow's peak haircut with matching goatee1. The look was a far cry from the lean action hero of *Under Siege* and *On Deadly Ground*, and the internet wasted no time pointing that out. Most jokes followed a simple formula: slap the screenshot with a caption suggesting Seagal was a fictional villain, a poorly rendered video game NPC, or a "Guess Who?" board game character2.

On September 27, 2017, Steven Seagal appeared via satellite from Moscow on ITV's *Good Morning Britain* to discuss the Trump administration and the NFL #TakeAKnee protests5. The 65-year-old, who had been granted Russian citizenship by Vladimir Putin in November 2016, rarely made public appearances at this point1. During the interview with Piers Morgan, Seagal called the NFL kneeling protests "outrageous" and "disgusting," defended Trump against what he called "enemies within," and dismissed the Russia election interference investigation as "stupid"4.

But nobody was really talking about his political takes. Within hours, the interview clip hit YouTube and racked up over 88,000 views, reaching #13 on the site's trending list5. What caught the internet's eye was how Seagal looked.

Origin & Background

Platform
ITV's Good Morning Britain (television), Twitter (viral spread)
Key People
Unknown; key early posts by @JonRichard, @pattymo, @Lou_LouD, @Comedyterrorist, @dickfundy
Date
2017

On September 27, 2017, Steven Seagal appeared via satellite from Moscow on ITV's *Good Morning Britain* to discuss the Trump administration and the NFL #TakeAKnee protests. The 65-year-old, who had been granted Russian citizenship by Vladimir Putin in November 2016, rarely made public appearances at this point. During the interview with Piers Morgan, Seagal called the NFL kneeling protests "outrageous" and "disgusting," defended Trump against what he called "enemies within," and dismissed the Russia election interference investigation as "stupid".

But nobody was really talking about his political takes. Within hours, the interview clip hit YouTube and racked up over 88,000 views, reaching #13 on the site's trending list. What caught the internet's eye was how Seagal looked.

How It Spread

The meme ignited on Twitter almost immediately after the broadcast. One of the earliest viral posts came from user @JonRichard, who grabbed a screenshot and captioned it: "'Batman has until midnight to reveal himself or I will bring Gotham to its knees' – Steven Seagal." That tweet pulled in over 11,000 retweets and 27,000 likes within 24 hours.

The villain comparisons kept piling up. @Lou_LouD posted the image with "In today's news: Steven Seagal moved to Russia to complete his transition into a Bond villain," picking up 2,000 retweets and 5,000 likes. @Comedyterrorist went a different route, writing that "Steven Seagal has moved to Russia where he seems to have become a character on the board game 'Guess Who,'" earning 500 retweets and 2,300 likes. @dickfundy placed Seagal alongside *Street Fighter*'s Shadaloo warriors, and @SummerRay asked why he looked "like a badly rendered computer game character from 1996".

The tweet that arguably hit hardest came from @pattymo later that day: "Steven Seagal can't decide who he's angrier at – kneeling NFL players or the wizard who cursed him to gradually turn into an owl." That one pulled 3,800 retweets and 14,000 likes in under 12 hours.

The AV Club published a blistering write-up asking "Why the fuck are we still listening to Steven Seagal?" and described him as a "straight-to-DVD human" who looked like "the poorly rendered villain from a Tom Clancy CD-ROM shooter". The Hollywood Reporter, E! News, Heavy, and The Daily Dot all ran coverage of the Twitter roasting. E! noted that some people also spotted the resemblance between real Seagal and his animated caricature on *South Park*.

Media

How to Use This Meme

The format is straightforward:

1

Take the broadcast screenshot of Seagal in his Moscow studio outfit.

2

Add a caption treating him as a fictional villain, obscure board game character, or poorly rendered video game boss.

3

The funnier the specific reference, the better. Bond villains, Batman villains, and *Street Fighter* bosses were the most common angles, but any "menacing figure in a dark room" archetype works.

Cultural Impact

The interview generated coverage from multiple major entertainment outlets within a single day. The Hollywood Reporter, E! News, The AV Club, Heavy, and The Daily Dot all published articles documenting the Twitter pile-on. The AV Club's piece went beyond the meme to question why media outlets were still booking Seagal as a political commentator, noting his history of dubious claims including that he had "risked his life countless times for the American flag". The piece pointed out that Seagal had previously claimed to have worked for the CIA, fought the Yakuza, and to be a reincarnated 17th-century Tibetan monk.

The incident also drew renewed attention to Seagal's relationship with Putin. Heavy reported that Seagal had described Putin as "one of the great living world leaders" as far back as March 2014 and considered him "a brother". The meme worked on two levels: the surface-level comedy of a faded action star's bizarre appearance, and the darker absurdity of a self-exiled American celebrity defending both Trump and Putin from a Moscow satellite feed.

Fun Facts

Seagal pronounced Putin's name with a noticeable Russian accent during the interview ("Vlad-ee-meer Poo-tin"), which the AV Club transcribed phonetically in their coverage.

The AV Club's article pointed out that Seagal "obviously, *obviously*" wrote his own IMDB biography and once proclaimed himself "one of the world's foremost experts on swords".

Seagal's appearance on the show was partly to promote his film *Attrition*, in which he plays a character named "Axe" who rescues a "Thai girl with mythical powers".

The YouTube upload of the interview hit 88,000 views and trended at #13 within its first 24 hours.

Seagal had worked as a reserve deputy sheriff alongside Joe Arpaio on his reality show *Steven Seagal: Lawman*.

Derivatives & Variations

Bond Villain Edits:

Multiple users placed the screenshot alongside actual James Bond villain stills or added dialogue about ransom demands and world domination[2].

Street Fighter Crossover:

@dickfundy's edit positioning Seagal as M. Bison leading Shadaloo warriors became one of the more shared variations[1].

Video Game Character Comparisons:

Users compared Seagal to the toilet guard from *GoldenEye 007* on N64 and speculated he was doing "a really cool ARG as the villain for the next unannounced Red Alert game"[1].

Guess Who? Edits:

@Comedyterrorist's board game comparison spawned follow-up edits placing Seagal's face onto actual Guess Who? cards[5].

Owl Curse Tweet:

@pattymo's "wizard who cursed him to gradually turn into an owl" line became a widely quoted standalone joke[5].

Frequently Asked Questions

Steven Seagals Good Morning Britain Interview

2017Image macro / reaction imagedead
Steven Seagals Good Morning Britain Interview is a 2017 image-macro meme from a satellite interview where the action star's jet-black hair, dark sunglasses, matching goatee, and Mandarin-collar jacket prompted comparisons to Bond villains and video-game characters.

Steven Seagal's Good Morning Britain Interview is a meme born from a September 2017 satellite interview in which the action star appeared on ITV's morning show from Moscow, looking so dramatically different from his 1990s heyday that Twitter turned his screenshot into an instant joke factory. Viewers zeroed in on his dyed jet-black hair, matching goatee, dark glasses, and Mandarin-collar jacket, spawning a wave of image macros comparing him to Bond villains, Batman antagonists, and badly rendered video game characters.

steven seagal memes celebrity appearance memes image macro memes political satire memes 2017 memes

Overview

The meme centers on a single broadcast screenshot of Steven Seagal sitting in what appears to be a dimly lit Moscow studio, wearing a black wool jacket buttoned to the throat, black-framed oval glasses, and sporting a dyed black widow's peak haircut with matching goatee. The look was a far cry from the lean action hero of *Under Siege* and *On Deadly Ground*, and the internet wasted no time pointing that out. Most jokes followed a simple formula: slap the screenshot with a caption suggesting Seagal was a fictional villain, a poorly rendered video game NPC, or a "Guess Who?" board game character.

On September 27, 2017, Steven Seagal appeared via satellite from Moscow on ITV's *Good Morning Britain* to discuss the Trump administration and the NFL #TakeAKnee protests. The 65-year-old, who had been granted Russian citizenship by Vladimir Putin in November 2016, rarely made public appearances at this point. During the interview with Piers Morgan, Seagal called the NFL kneeling protests "outrageous" and "disgusting," defended Trump against what he called "enemies within," and dismissed the Russia election interference investigation as "stupid".

But nobody was really talking about his political takes. Within hours, the interview clip hit YouTube and racked up over 88,000 views, reaching #13 on the site's trending list. What caught the internet's eye was how Seagal looked.

Origin & Background

Platform
ITV's Good Morning Britain (television), Twitter (viral spread)
Key People
Unknown; key early posts by @JonRichard, @pattymo, @Lou_LouD, @Comedyterrorist, @dickfundy
Date
2017

On September 27, 2017, Steven Seagal appeared via satellite from Moscow on ITV's *Good Morning Britain* to discuss the Trump administration and the NFL #TakeAKnee protests. The 65-year-old, who had been granted Russian citizenship by Vladimir Putin in November 2016, rarely made public appearances at this point. During the interview with Piers Morgan, Seagal called the NFL kneeling protests "outrageous" and "disgusting," defended Trump against what he called "enemies within," and dismissed the Russia election interference investigation as "stupid".

But nobody was really talking about his political takes. Within hours, the interview clip hit YouTube and racked up over 88,000 views, reaching #13 on the site's trending list. What caught the internet's eye was how Seagal looked.

How It Spread

The meme ignited on Twitter almost immediately after the broadcast. One of the earliest viral posts came from user @JonRichard, who grabbed a screenshot and captioned it: "'Batman has until midnight to reveal himself or I will bring Gotham to its knees' – Steven Seagal." That tweet pulled in over 11,000 retweets and 27,000 likes within 24 hours.

The villain comparisons kept piling up. @Lou_LouD posted the image with "In today's news: Steven Seagal moved to Russia to complete his transition into a Bond villain," picking up 2,000 retweets and 5,000 likes. @Comedyterrorist went a different route, writing that "Steven Seagal has moved to Russia where he seems to have become a character on the board game 'Guess Who,'" earning 500 retweets and 2,300 likes. @dickfundy placed Seagal alongside *Street Fighter*'s Shadaloo warriors, and @SummerRay asked why he looked "like a badly rendered computer game character from 1996".

The tweet that arguably hit hardest came from @pattymo later that day: "Steven Seagal can't decide who he's angrier at – kneeling NFL players or the wizard who cursed him to gradually turn into an owl." That one pulled 3,800 retweets and 14,000 likes in under 12 hours.

The AV Club published a blistering write-up asking "Why the fuck are we still listening to Steven Seagal?" and described him as a "straight-to-DVD human" who looked like "the poorly rendered villain from a Tom Clancy CD-ROM shooter". The Hollywood Reporter, E! News, Heavy, and The Daily Dot all ran coverage of the Twitter roasting. E! noted that some people also spotted the resemblance between real Seagal and his animated caricature on *South Park*.

Media

How to Use This Meme

The format is straightforward:

1

Take the broadcast screenshot of Seagal in his Moscow studio outfit.

2

Add a caption treating him as a fictional villain, obscure board game character, or poorly rendered video game boss.

3

The funnier the specific reference, the better. Bond villains, Batman villains, and *Street Fighter* bosses were the most common angles, but any "menacing figure in a dark room" archetype works.

Cultural Impact

The interview generated coverage from multiple major entertainment outlets within a single day. The Hollywood Reporter, E! News, The AV Club, Heavy, and The Daily Dot all published articles documenting the Twitter pile-on. The AV Club's piece went beyond the meme to question why media outlets were still booking Seagal as a political commentator, noting his history of dubious claims including that he had "risked his life countless times for the American flag". The piece pointed out that Seagal had previously claimed to have worked for the CIA, fought the Yakuza, and to be a reincarnated 17th-century Tibetan monk.

The incident also drew renewed attention to Seagal's relationship with Putin. Heavy reported that Seagal had described Putin as "one of the great living world leaders" as far back as March 2014 and considered him "a brother". The meme worked on two levels: the surface-level comedy of a faded action star's bizarre appearance, and the darker absurdity of a self-exiled American celebrity defending both Trump and Putin from a Moscow satellite feed.

Fun Facts

Seagal pronounced Putin's name with a noticeable Russian accent during the interview ("Vlad-ee-meer Poo-tin"), which the AV Club transcribed phonetically in their coverage.

The AV Club's article pointed out that Seagal "obviously, *obviously*" wrote his own IMDB biography and once proclaimed himself "one of the world's foremost experts on swords".

Seagal's appearance on the show was partly to promote his film *Attrition*, in which he plays a character named "Axe" who rescues a "Thai girl with mythical powers".

The YouTube upload of the interview hit 88,000 views and trended at #13 within its first 24 hours.

Seagal had worked as a reserve deputy sheriff alongside Joe Arpaio on his reality show *Steven Seagal: Lawman*.

Derivatives & Variations

Bond Villain Edits:

Multiple users placed the screenshot alongside actual James Bond villain stills or added dialogue about ransom demands and world domination[2].

Street Fighter Crossover:

@dickfundy's edit positioning Seagal as M. Bison leading Shadaloo warriors became one of the more shared variations[1].

Video Game Character Comparisons:

Users compared Seagal to the toilet guard from *GoldenEye 007* on N64 and speculated he was doing "a really cool ARG as the villain for the next unannounced Red Alert game"[1].

Guess Who? Edits:

@Comedyterrorist's board game comparison spawned follow-up edits placing Seagal's face onto actual Guess Who? cards[5].

Owl Curse Tweet:

@pattymo's "wizard who cursed him to gradually turn into an owl" line became a widely quoted standalone joke[5].

Frequently Asked Questions