Pro tip: If you have a sexual assault scandal in your background, you may not want to ask the general population to turn you into an Internet "meme." Apparently, no one told this to Bill Cosby, which is why his "meme generator" idea went horribly wrong yesterday. Cosby put the generator on his website, then tweeted a link to it with the note, "Go ahead. Meme me!" and the hashtag #CosbyMeme. Well, challenge accepted: Many people did indeed create Cosby memes ... about the fact that the comedian settled a 2006 lawsuit with a woman who accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her, USA Today reports. As Vulture reported in September, that lawsuit mentioned 13 other women who alleged similar experiences. After Cosby's tweet yesterday, pictures of him were overlaid with words like:
- "I just Googled 'Bill Cosby' and 'rape.'"
- "Define 'drugged.'"
- "Over a dozen women have accused me of being hilarious."
- "14 allegations of rape?! Zipzopzubittybop!"
- "Didn't even say hello to get in her Jello."
Both the generator (which offered pictures of Cosby that could be used to make memes) and Cosby's tweet about it have since been erased, the
Los Angeles Times reports. The
New York Post notes that the allegations against Cosby first resurfaced earlier this year while NBC was said to be considering a new Cosby sitcom. (Two other social media moves that backfired big-time:
Robin Thicke's Twitter Q&A and
the NYPD's #MyNYPD campaign.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
