The “Gonna Tell My Kid” meme has been trending on social media and taking a jab at revisionist history. The biggest concern raised by parents — the meme’s capacity to change kids’ view of the past. Take for example the Tweet featured above which read: “Gonna tell my kids this was Jesus Christ.”
Revisionist history aims to challenge orthodox views of historical events and records. And, it introduces contrary evidence or reinterprets motivations and decisions of the people involved.
Twitter trolls have reenvisioned history for themselves through the “Gonna Tell My Kid” memes. A majority of the memes found on Twitter have more than 100,000 likes and retweets combined. Some famous faces being reimagined through the trend: A$AP Rocky, Lana Del Rey, Brendon Urie, Lil Uzi Vert, and Taylor Swift.
1. The New: JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy
On the left is American singer, Lana Del Rey, with American rapper, A$AP Rocky. Del Rey is known for her 60s and 70s fashion sense that parallels the former first lady’s style.
2. The New: Abraham Lincoln
Honest Abe is getting swapped for Panic! at the Disco’s lead-singer, Brendon Urie. The image is taken from the most popular song on the 2005 album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. The song: “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” is still a fan-favorite and the top hat in the music video emulates the iconic one worn by the 16th President.
3. The New: Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders isn’t usually the subject of memes, but twitter trolls couldn’t help themselves with this non-celeb gentleman.
4. The New: Barack Obama
No, this is not our former president, but Lil Uzi Vert’s patriotic attire says otherwise. Lil Uzi Vert, for those who don’t know, is a popular American rapper who gained media attention after featuring in Migos’ song “Bad and Boujee” that circulated back in 2016.
5. The New: Danny DeVito
Enough said.
6. The New: The Avengers
The 1991 animated children’s television series Rugrats is still a childhood-favorite. They were true heroes in the show.
7. The New: Jesus Christ
Some twitter trolls stand by the idea that Jonathan Van Ness is the “real” Jesus Christ. Ness is the television personality from Queer Eye and his long locks and groomed beard don’t help this confusion.
8. The New: Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra
Since this trend has floated around, everyone’s favorite couple has been reenvisioned left and right. Here, singer Nick Jonas from the Jonas Brothers and actress, Priyanka Chopra, who married in 2018, are represented by stand-ins Ryan Howard and Kelly Kapoor from the TV series The Office.
9. The New: One Direction
Clearly, this should have been the original boy band. I mean, c’mon, look at Rob Lowe.
10. The New: James Charles
Actress and singer, Miley Cyrus is getting mistaken for James Charles, a YouTuber and make-up artist. A 2013 haircut and style paved the way for this confusion.
11. The New: The Chainsmokers
Drew and Jonathan Scott, television personalities from Property Brothers are taking the place of EDM (Electronic Dance Music) DJs, Alexander “Alex” Pall and Andrew “Drew” Taggart.
12. The New: Blink-182
Another Jo-bro reference, this time Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas stand in for the band Blink 182.
13. The New: Kurt Cobain
Poor T-Swift getting confused for Nirvana’s guitarist, Kurt Cobain.
14. The New: Benjamin Franklin
Our Founding Fathers are getting new faces. In this case, Shia Labeouf in his Honey Boy role.
15. The New: Founding Fathers
The Jersey Shore cast is making their debut at the pioneers of democracy and freedom. If you’ve seen the show, you might agree.
16. The New: Steve Jobs
Everyone knows what Steve Jobs looks like, but apparently, he sometimes gets mistaken for American rapper, Young Thug.
17. The New: Michael Phelps
Olympian swimmer, Michael Phelps, spends way more time underwater than Gunna did for his 2018 album cover for Drip or Drown 2.
18. The New: Kardashians
Honestly, “Keeping up with the Cullens” doesn’t have a bad ring to it. Their supernatural good looks top that of the Kardashians.
19. The New: Mount Rushmore
We’re not mad about it.
20. The New: Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello
Cabello and Mendes have been under the spotlight for a few months since their debut as a couple and hit “Senorita” made it on Billboard’s Hot 100. However, the dynamic-duo pictured above are Glee stars, Lea Michele and Chris Colfer.
21. The New: Destiny’s Child
Obviously, these aren’t the true queens of Destiny’s Child. Don’t get it twisted.
22. The New: A Star Is Born
If you haven’t already seen the film A Star Is Born, you must. Not only to clear up this confusion but to fall in love with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s performance.
23. The New: Kurt Cobain (Part 2)
This is clearly Drake Bell from Nickelodeon’s American sitcom, Drake and Josh. He makes a feature in The Amanda Show as Totally Kyle, a hippie-surfer with a Californian accent.
24. The New: Cats Movie
This is an honest mix-up. But, if you don’t recognize these faces, this is Mike Myers from Cat in the Hat.
25. The New: Elon Musk
Tony Stark for Elon Musk. This is an easy swap.
26. The New: Royal Family
The true royal family. Pictured above is the Parker-James family from the 1998 film, The Parent Trap.
27. The New: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Pictured above: Dylan and Cole Sprouse. The twins from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, the 2005 hit-series from Disney Channel. The Olsen twins are from an older fan-favorite: Full House.
28. The New: Rihanna
If you’re not familiar with Joanne The Scammer, now is a good time to start. Joanne is portrayed by actor and comedian, Branden Miller. She gained fame from her offensive skits on Twitter. The Fenty Queen could never.
29. The New: Twenty One Pilots
Step Brothers stars, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly give a smashing-performance in the film that parallels that of American musical duo, Twenty One Pilots. However, Twenty One Pilots will not be doing their rendition of “Por Ti Volare.”
30. The New: Ghostbusters
True heroes.
31. The New: Photoshop
This one goes out to the tech/design nerds! (Microsoft paint, you have to admit, was a life-saver. )
“Gonna Tell My Kid” Meme on the Big Screen
With the release of the long-awaited film Harriet last month, information has surfaced that a casting consideration to play Harriet Tubman was Julia Roberts. Apparently, the film biopic had been pitched 26 years ago by Disney, and its producers felt the script fit Julia Roberts perfectly. When people protested the idea, the original producer’s response was, “It was so long ago. No one is going to know the difference.”
Instead of Roberts, British actress, Cynthia Erivo, plays the American abolitionist in the 2019 film.
When the details of Robert’s original casting came to light, a storm of other memes starting hitting the internet.
If you’re worried about these memes altering your kids’ perspectives, don’t be. Teens don’t seem to have trouble telling fact from fiction, but little ones… you may want to let them in on the joke.
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