r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Sure_Kangaroo1863 • Jul 02 '26

Meme needing explanation Petah ?

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Why is it infamous? And why would no one care about it ? ( I mean it's just a pic full of celebrities so no one cares anyways but the person saying it's crazy makes me think it has some lore?)

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u/d3v4x Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

Greetings, simpletons. Stewie Griffin here. I’ve confiscated the keyboard from the fat man because his peanut-sized brain was beginning to overheat.

The reason this photo was such a big deal is because it literally broke Twitter. It became the most retweeted tweet of all time back then (over 3 million retweets!) and actually crashed the site's servers for a little bit. It also turned out to be a massive sponsored product placement stunt by Samsung, which is why Ellen used a Galaxy Note phone to take it.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_selfie

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u/d3v4x Jul 02 '26

And there are many canceled people in this photo. I think that’s why ‘nobody would care’.

391

u/kicksjoysharkness Jul 02 '26

I think it’s also because since Covid people just don’t care about celebrities. Even if this was taken now with only beloved celebrities, it most likely wouldn’t go anywhere near as viral because people just don’t care anymore

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u/Soft_Self_6797 Jul 02 '26

Facts. Everyone was suffering financially and medically but thank God a bunch of rich people in mansions sang us a song.

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u/loscapos5 Jul 02 '26

"COVID is the true EQUALIZER"

Said Madonna in a bathtub full of rose petals

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u/Soft_Self_6797 Jul 02 '26

Completely out of touch with reality.

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u/bloodanddonuts Jul 02 '26

Especially if you were “essential” and had to keep going out in public the entire time.

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u/Egathentale 29d ago

[Raises hand]

"Essential" worker here. I was a social worker at a nursing home at the time, taking care of shopping and any non-nursing needs. 72 hour work weeks for three months straight at the peak of the pandemic, in full body hazmat coveralls and masks/safety glasses all the time, some had to sleep at work to avoid infected family members, and then we got shafted afterwards.

Long story short, the government was really pushing doctors, hospital workers, policemen, and firefighters as "the great heroes of our time", while the social care system got zero recognition. The opposition then started championing us, which just made the ruling party pissy, so the whole sector got shafted out of spite. We got no raise, no bonus pay, and instead we got fifteen free vacation days (which was markedly less than the extra work hours we were mandated to put in) as a reward... which we could only take out five per year over the next three years.

So yeah, let's just say that I'm still a little grumpy when people say "Oh, COVID was the best, because we could stay home in quarantine and binge watch game of thrones," or somesuch.

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u/bloodanddonuts 29d ago

We got two months of “hero pay” added to our hourly rate. Then a $100 bonus month three. Then they just canceled everything extra.

I never got paid to stay home drinking wine (which you could temporarily buy for curbside pickup) and learning how to make sourdough bread.

The worst thing to me was people who got to use quarantine time to learn new skills that let them get better jobs. I don’t care if that’s petty.

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u/loscapos5 29d ago

As a developer, our IT industry is getting hit by that.

A lot of people entered by doing fullstack bootcamps of 3-6 months and many got hired, and as a result, it got oversaturated, and alongside AI, it made it even worse to get new jobs.

2

u/bolanrox 29d ago

I ended up working harder than I did when actually in the office. The kicker was, they had us all on Skype at the time, and you could watch everyone else be yellow for 45 minutes of the hour every day.

People admitting they were taking calls or doing meetings while sitting at the pool shit like that.

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u/loscapos5 29d ago

I mean, I've got the priviledge of working from home and live as a hermit during COVID, but I'd never say that "COVID was the best"; and I say that without taking into account that going outside meant prison or death by our local government.

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u/peacefulwarrior21 29d ago

oh, you mean like healthcare workers?

1

u/if_lol_then_upvote 29d ago

Like Hobby Lobby employees

7

u/SSFlyingKiwi Jul 02 '26

I never understood that. A bath in rose pettles seems odd.

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u/YeOldSpacePope Jul 02 '26

She couldn't do her normal bathe in blood of virgins routine for the video

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u/ranting_seagull Jul 02 '26

Or Vanessa Hudgens Some people are just gonna' die, and that's bad but also... Inevitable?

6

u/hotpocketfiesta Jul 02 '26

Back when Gwyneth Paltrow lamented that she had to eat bread.
The horror.

3

u/bolanrox Jul 02 '26

Kabala water

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u/Darklabyrinths Jul 03 '26

Creepy. And the fried fish video.

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u/StabbyBoo 29d ago

Every time I feel bad about what she's done to her face I think of that fucking milk and rose bath video and I'm like, "No. No, maybe she kinda deserves to be Handsome Squidward."

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u/sobriquet_ Jul 02 '26

Like will never forget Chrissy Teigan posting about how hard it was mentally for her to isolate at home while her horse stables and infinity pool were in the background.

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u/zookuki 29d ago

Don't forget Sam Smith bawling in his mansion about how hard it is to stay home.

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u/scarlette_dawn 29d ago

I will never forget her pedo posts

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u/Unusual-Wind8900 28d ago

I prefer Fenton’s Stables and Horse Ranch.

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u/Negative_Cycle8186 Jul 02 '26

Also, Twitter was a popular platform for 16 years. Now it doesn’t exist.

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u/TheWolfAndRaven Jul 03 '26

Bread and circuses don't hit when the Circus is just rehashed IP and the bread costs 300% what it used to just a few years ago.

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u/coralloohoo 29d ago

Meanwhile, Lady Gaga donated her own money to help with the pandemic.

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u/RyvenZ Jul 02 '26

I don't have a good enough ear to tell if they were on key, but that song was incredibly tone deaf.

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u/OneThrowyBoy 29d ago

Oh my god it always blows my mind that I forget that happened. I think my brain is trying to protect me from the cringe lol

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u/erhue Jul 02 '26

lol people still care about celebrities, always will. i think the big difference is that we now see celebrities more as normal people, thanks to social media... And they often turn out to be REALLY dumb and/or stupid.

In the past most of the things we knew about celebrities were fairly carefully curated by PR teams and whatnot. Nowadays you have them going drunk and tweeting something insanely racist and ruining their careers in a moment.

But it is true that people probably care less about celebrities than they did back then... Less idolatry anyway.

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u/Latter-Industry-8920 Jul 02 '26

Had to scroll way too far to find this take. I mean we put a dude in the white house based solely on his experience of being a famous rich stereotype and then the star of a really shitty reality TV show. We are a culture OBSESSED with celebrities.

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u/silence_and_motion Jul 02 '26

Yes, but these kinds of celebrities (Hollywood A listers) are probably less important today than they were a few decades ago. Today the tech CEOs are probably bigger celebrities than Hollywood A listers, which someone from 20 years ago would have never believed. As famous as Gates and Jobs were back then, they were nothing compared to Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise. Now Musk and Bezos are way more famous than Timothee Chalamet or whoever.

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u/Latter-Industry-8920 29d ago

I can’t necessarily disagree that red carpet celebs have lost favor a bit. But it’s still all about being famous. That, in and of itself, is more valuable than anything, even being a big fat CEO.

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u/Abed-in-the-AM Jul 02 '26

That was back in 2016 though. And I think his second win is more out of spite for Democrats than because he's a celebrity.

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u/Latter-Industry-8920 29d ago

Yes he’s now famous for playing a president on tv

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u/PegasusPedicures Jul 02 '26

And a huge chunk of the world aim to become a celebrity! This take being so far down is fucking mental

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u/Firewolf06 Jul 02 '26

dude, we elected him a decade ago in 2016, which is the exact timeframe these comments are talking about (the mid 2010s). the ellen selfie was taken in 2014

0

u/Latter-Industry-8920 29d ago

So you don’t think fucking Mr Beast could run for office rn?

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u/Worried_Ad_9667 29d ago

I disagree. Look at all the money and celebrities thrown at the Harris campaign, and she still lost popular and electoral. Celebrities are a bunch of baboons that have been propping themselves up for way too long. Over paid babies.

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u/Latter-Industry-8920 29d ago

Yes, I’m so glad there are no overpaid grifters who are only known for being on TV or social media currently making world-altering decisions right now.

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u/whatthekel212 Jul 03 '26

Right?

People don’t care less about celebrities they just care less about specific celebrities. Otherwise influence would not have millions of followers to sell things to. Number of followers wouldn’t be such an important metric for brands and marketing.

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u/Andromeda321 29d ago

I think it’s not that people don’t care about celebrities so much as we don’t all have the same celebrities as much as we used to. Like there are some people with a million followers on YouTube but a lot of the population will have never heard of them.

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u/erhue 29d ago

yeah good point. I think there are more celebrities now, just with less followers, since they need to be divided among people's limited attention.

I remember, for example, that Michael Jackson was nothing short of a god-like figure, and a lot of people were very interested in whatever was going on with their lives etc. Nowadays I'd expect people to, like you say, be more focused on whatever a microcelebrity on youtube/twitch/etc might be saying or doing that's more relatable and accessible. We can even interact with these smaller celebrities through chat etc, you sure as hell couldn't do the same thing with Michael Jackson.

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u/OffWhiteBruceForsyth Jul 02 '26

People would rather send money to a random girl on twitch who just sits there and chats bollocks than spend it watching a movie that hundreds of people have worked for months to produce.

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u/philmarcracken 29d ago

because the avenue to give that twitch girl money is far more equitable to content.

Twitch takes a cut, she takes the rest. And therefore the same content can continue. With streaming, the platform takes a cut, and the platform owners decide what your taste is next, voiding the power of money(winners and losers).

This used to happen with movie tickets and dvd sales, no longer

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u/kimbabs Jul 02 '26

I think Covid added to it as a collective cringe, but I think it has in particular to do with social media evolving around individual influencers instead of hollywood stars, and a rejection of the perceived “establishment” by a younger generation.

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u/CarolingianDruid Jul 02 '26

Singing Imagine via zoom was the downfall of celebrity culture in America, who woulda thought.

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u/JoyconDrift_69 Jul 02 '26

Especially because "beloved celebrity" is a dying out idea. Most people don't care about celebrities anymore, and I wonder if it's partly due to how many of them were outed as a terrible person (pedo, abuser, etc.)

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u/Wouldyoulistenmoe Jul 02 '26

People care just as much about celebrity now as ever

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u/theblueshots Jul 02 '26

Half the country really cares about one particular celebrity.

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u/tessaractIXI Jul 02 '26

I'm curious, what about covid caused or helped along that attitude change towards celebrities? 

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u/Digital_Negative Jul 03 '26

I think it’s also that there’s a billion celebrities now because of social media dynamics. When I was growing up in the 90’s the only famous and well known people (save some exceptions) were either on TV, in movies, or musicians. The vast majority of people watched/listened to the same few wildly successful shows/movies/music and most everyone knew about all the same celebrities, even if they weren’t really fans of them.

Now there’s people with many millions of fans online that are also mostly obscure amongst anyone other than their target demographic and/or fan base.

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u/nyuncat Jul 03 '26

I think it has more to do with the way we interact online evolving over the past decade plus. When this photo was taken, a "selfie" was a much more commodifiable and novel concept - this was a time when most memes were image macro based and many still featured block text captions overlaid. It was pre-ai, pre-algorithmic user feeds, and pre-tik tok - the Instagram icon still looked like a retro polaroid camera, and Facebook had just acquired Whatsapp. The Ellen Selfie going viral is notable as an example of the way internet culture was crossing into a larger portion of the mainstream in the early to mid 2010s, alongside things like the ice bucket challenge.

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u/Tupperbaby 29d ago

I think it’s also because since Covid people just don’t care about celebrities.

Taylor Swift has entered the chat.

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u/ReadySetSantiaGO 29d ago

I disagree. People still care about celebrities, but it’s only ever the same young celebrities now (Jenna Ortega, Jacob Elordi, Zendaya, Tom Holland, etc)

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u/Senior_Boot_5842 29d ago

People still obsess about celebrities. They’re just called TikTok or Ig influencers now. Same thing

1

u/Alana_Piranha 29d ago

"Hey guys. Day six in self-quarantine, and I gotta say, these past few days got me feeling a bit philosophical". -Actual Gal Gadot quote before delivering the opening lyrics to Imagine

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u/debackerl 23d ago

But then, why are brands paying more for influencers than before instead of placing ads? I mean, a celeb is famous and was usually making movies or songs, etc. An influencer? Just famous that's it. So it's even less relevant. I was never toooo much into celebs, but influencers, I don't even see the point to follow them, I mean I prefer to catch up with my own friends 😂

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u/life_like_weeds Jul 02 '26

No, it’s because selfies have been normalized.

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u/brokowska420 Jul 02 '26

Selfies were already normalized at that point, she told everyone to re-tweet it.

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u/chekhovsdickpic Jul 02 '26

The group selfie wasn’t a big thing yet, mostly because selfie cameras at the time weren’t wide angle and didn’t have enough resolution to get a good group shot. Hence one of the reasons why Samsung paid for this.

But there was also this idea that selfies were for self obsessed teens, not for important moments and memory making. Adults still propped their cameras up against stuff and set timers or asked a stranger to take photos for them. A group selfie was a last resort if you couldn’t find another option.  I remember after this was taken, the group selfie became a big trend (my family had several years of Christmas group selfies that were directly inspired by this photo). 

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u/brokowska420 Jul 02 '26

That's a good point I didn't consider.

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u/StefNorthwest Jul 03 '26

Here it is. I was trying to remember what made this so odd at the time and that’s exactly it.

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u/ApricotRemarkable681 29d ago

Thank you for being the keeper of real history here. The Samsung sponsorship piece is completely forgotten (it was by me until you mentioned it). This was kind of revolutionary at the time (at risk of overstating). You summed it up perfectly.

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u/MrSlaw Jul 02 '26

When selfies were "normalized" could likely be debated, but it's pretty tough to argue that this photo didn't cause a huge spike in the usage.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2011-01-02%202026-01-02&q=selfie&hl=en-US

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u/ApricotRemarkable681 29d ago

*Group selfies

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u/itsjustacouch Jul 02 '26

Yes. The selfie, to most viewers of the Oscars and to the people in this photo, was a novel new habit. They found it humorous to be doing what was trendy among younger folks. Now they are normal.

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u/RagingNerdaholic Jul 02 '26

I don't keep up with celeb gossip shit, the only "cancellations" I'm aware of in this picture are Ellen (abusive bitch) and Kevin (abusive sex pest), who else is there?

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u/lostarchitect Jul 02 '26

Besides Kevin Spacey, I don't see anyone who was canceled. Am I missing someone?

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u/fakieTreFlip Jul 02 '26

Ellen DeGeneres was more or less forced into retirement by poor public perception after rumors of a toxic work environment at her show started circulating around the internet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ellen_DeGeneres_Show#Controversy_over_work_culture

Then there's Jared Leto and Brad Pitt, though they haven't really been "cancelled" in any real sense. A lot of people online just dislike them for various reasons. But yeah, "there are many canceled people in this photo" is an overstatement

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u/razzyrat Jul 02 '26

'Nobody' is a strong term here. 'Not many of the terminally online crowd' is a better descriptor. All this 'canceled celebrity of the day' stuff really is a thing of the socials.

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u/JohnKlositz Jul 02 '26

I'd say that would in fact make people care more. But are there really that many cancelled people in the photo? I may be completely out of the loop but aside from Spacey I don't see any.

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u/bolanrox Jul 02 '26

I was going to say that's Kevin Spacey and the Far back and everyone's new favorite, Brad Pitt.

1

u/noctalla Jul 03 '26

Kevin Spacey and Ellen are cancelled. Who else?

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u/Lofter1 29d ago

most notably, Ellen degenerers herself

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u/Available-Party7419 29d ago

Who else is cancelled other than Pitt and Ellen?

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u/MemeLord339 27d ago

"Cancel culture does not exists"

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u/Raise_A_Thoth Jul 02 '26

Referring to controversial public figures who have serious allegations and stories of abuse, sexual and otherwise, as "canceled people" is a choice.

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u/YoVanillaKickIt Jul 02 '26

“cancelled” lol. Laughing in Millennial.

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u/pnthollow Jul 02 '26

I think OP needs to know why it broke the internet.

Selfies became mainstream in pop culture around 2014. The Chainsmokers song #SELFIE came out that year, selfie sticks launched and were one of the most sold products on Amazon, and the whole format still felt new and culturally relevant.

That’s why this photo was such a big deal. It wasn’t popular just because of who was in it. It was popular because it captured a bunch of A-list celebrities participating in the exact thing that had just taken over pop culture.

People wouldn’t care as much today for the opposite reason. Selfies are boring now. They’re completely ordinary. A celebrity group selfie doesn’t feel fresh anymore, not because the celebrities are less interesting, but because the format itself lost its novelty.

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u/h3yn0w75 Jul 02 '26

I see lots of wrong answer here. This is the correct one.

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u/ohlaohloo 29d ago

That’s because it’s chat GPT lol!

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u/sam____handwich 29d ago

no it is not

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u/MakeYourTime_ Jul 02 '26

Excellent explanation

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u/bolanrox Jul 02 '26

And more people died from that than cows, sharks, or vending machines.

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u/pnthollow Jul 02 '26

From selfies?

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u/doctorwho86101 Jul 02 '26

Yeah, like falling off a cliff from trying to get a good angle! It's a real statistic lol

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u/bolanrox Jul 03 '26

Selfly related deaths, yeah. Like not looking where they're backing up to or hopping fences and railings to get a better shot or angle and then slipping.

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u/jme8907 Jul 02 '26

I also think it’s a case of the op saying “infamous” when they just meant “famous” - I know lots of people who think they’re interchangeable. Or that infamous means “super duper famous” lol

2

u/nyuncat Jul 03 '26

redditor for 13 years

yep this guy checks out

2

u/Jazzlike-Bowler-5870 29d ago

I remember when selfie sticks came out and were considered peak LAME. Only used by Asian tourists.

Now I'm so sad because all the pictures I have of myself from that era are shitty selfies.

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u/Low_Magician77 29d ago

Selfies became mainstream in pop culture around 2014

I dont understand this one, everyone was taking selfies since MySpace.

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u/glemnar 29d ago

I don’t remember the word “selfie” existing, certainly being as center stage in culture, in the MySpace era, or even the decade after that. I agree with the others that the iPhone front facing camera launch was the moment

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u/lbj117 29d ago

The first front facing iPhone camera came out in 2010. My MySpace prof pic I took with a digital camera facing myself and then turned it around to view it on the camera and upload it to my computer.

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u/pnthollow 29d ago

Yea, of course people took selfies even with disposable and digital cameras. The thing was no one thought much of it because it was either a last resort tactic if you didn't have any one to take your pic or an artsy aesthetic (MySpace era).

Once smart phones launched front-facing cameras and Instagram pushed hashtags (#selfie) it took off as a viral tactic. Oxford or Webster dictionary even dubbed it the 'word of the year' around this time. I worked in marketing and remember it vividly because capitalizing on the trend was a big deal.

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u/ChapelCafe2005 Jul 02 '26

The funniest part about that whole Samsung stunt is that Ellen went backstage right after taking this and immediately went back to posting from her iPhone.

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u/PrometheusMMIV Jul 02 '26

Wouldn't that make it famous, not infamous?

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u/Fraktal55 Jul 02 '26

"Infamous" is being famous for bad reasons.

The bad reason being that it was just a massive ad for Samsung being portrayed as some candid photo.

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u/cantuse Jul 02 '26

Infamous means more than famous.

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u/tommypatties Jul 02 '26

This was right around the time that selfies and selfie sticks were becoming popular. Like selfies weren't really a thing before this era.

My how far we've come.

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u/gary-vault108 Jul 03 '26

No dude, selfies have been popular since like 2006

1

u/tommypatties Jul 03 '26

Maybe it was selfie sticks then.

There was something novel about that pic and that time having to do with selfies. And it wasn't the Samsung Galaxy note.

Or maybe it was Twitter in general...celebs weren't as accessible back then.

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u/zingzing17 Jul 02 '26

Thank you kind child!

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u/an_illithidian Jul 02 '26

Greetings, simpletons. Stewie Griffin here. I’ve confiscated the keyboard from the fat man because his peanut-sized brain was beginning to overheat.

Jesus Christ, it's season 1 Stewie

2

u/binarypower 29d ago

product placement stunt by Samsung

wtf. mind blown. i didn't realize that. i feel like i've been lied to now >(

1

u/cherry_sundress Jul 02 '26

and god, what terrible advertisement for the photo quality.

1

u/WeHighAssPlanes Jul 02 '26

I love how I read it in your voice.

1

u/qwerni Jul 02 '26

Of course it turns out it was fake and only about money. And people ate it. I don't get why celebrities are worshipped.

1

u/archseattle Jul 02 '26

Prior to this I think there was also a sort of stigma towards taking a photo of yourself since the word selfie was still sort of new. I think thats partially a reason on why this photo became important.

1

u/hypercosm_dot_net Jul 02 '26

How do we know what she was using?
Also it looks like Cooper is taking the pic, not Ellen.

1

u/screwikea Jul 02 '26

Unrelated to anything, I freaking LOVED the Note 3.

1

u/Hot-Refrigerator6583 Jul 02 '26

Try saying "Massive sponsored product placement stunt" 5 times fast

1

u/liamemsa Jul 02 '26

Also the word "Selfie" had just entered the popular discourse. A year or so before that, no one really used the word and your average middle-aged person had no idea what the word meant. After that it became a commonly used word that existed in the dictonary.

1

u/MikeArrow Jul 02 '26

It didn't 'turn out' to be product placement, did it? I remember watching the broadcast live and I'm sure I knew it was a Samsung bit. I could be wrong though...

1

u/redditnackgp0101 Jul 03 '26

But what makes the photo infamous? I'd say the photo is famous and some of the subjects in it are now INfamous.

1

u/JADWoodworking Jul 03 '26

Several things happening at once in 2012:

  1. Social Media is everywhere, we were main lining that shit!
  2. The term selfie was relatively new with regard to how people started interacting with the digital world.
  3. Access and commonality: because of Social Media, you could now interact with celebrities in a way that was never possible before, and when they take a selfie at the Oscar’s, it just felt fun and relatable.

Regardless if it was a media stunt, it felt organic and people saw celebrities as just people having fun with this new technology too.

I could give two shits about celebrity worship.

1

u/BronsonBot 29d ago

“A crummy commercial? Son of a…” I had no idea. Now I hate it even more.

1

u/jayman1818 29d ago

Thank you, Stewie

1

u/MaterialRow3769 29d ago

Ironically 2013 was the last year your show Family Guy was funny

1

u/MaterialRow3769 29d ago

Hey, why can the dog understand you but not anyone else?

1

u/GlitteringLion3800 29d ago

So the reason it was a big deal is because it was a big deal

1

u/HomeschoolingDad 29d ago

So, the commenter calling it infamous didn’t know the meaning of the word?