One girl, one meme: The Piper Perri meme, explained
The Piper Perri meme is an example of the internet's ability to turn racist imagery into a widespread phenomenon. Despite its problematic beginnings, this meme has seen various interpretations and adaptations, cementing its place in meme history.
Who is Piper Perri?
Piper Perri, born Julienne Frederico, was an adult film star who appeared on the scene in 2014, following a bad break up. The actress chose her stage name after the protagonist in "Orange Is The New Black," and by 2016, Perri had became a prominent figure in the industry. She climbed the ranks to become one of the most-watched adult movie actresses, however in recent years, she has taken a step back from the public eye.
Origin of the Piper Perri meme
The Piper Perri meme comes from a scene in the adult film "Orgy Is the New Black," released Oct. 9, 2015. The film, which was meant to parody the popular Netflix show "Orange Is The New Black," features a scene in which Perri is sitting on a couch surrounded by five black men.
This meme first appeared as a meme on 9GAG in January 2016 when a user posted a screen grab of the scene as an object-labeled image. In the meme, Perry was labeled "Me," and the black men standing around her were labelled "Student Loan," "Business life," "Bills," "Rent," and "Bank account." The image was titled, "My financial situation in a nutshell," and it metaphorically represented an individual being overtaken by life's responsibilities.
Spread of the meme
The Piper Perri meme became popular as a way to represent scenarios in which an individual feels outnumbered or overwhelmed. Variations of the meme appeared across other social media platforms, including Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook.
The meme also gained traction on gaming image-sharing websites, like HUGELOL, where it was used to represent scenarios in video games.
Posts from the nonpoliticaltwitter
community on Reddit
A notable adaptation of the meme appeared when a Redditor posted a version of the meme as a reaction to the #CNNBlackmail controversy. In this version, the men's faces were photoshopped with Reddit's logo of a stylized Snoo head, while Perri's head was replaced with the CNN logo.
Rip ????️NN
byu/ohhfasho indankmemes
The meme took a new turn in 2023 when Elon Musk posted a version that doubled down the racism of the original. In the two-panel version posted by Musk, the first panel showed the image of Piper next to an image of a dead video game player surrounded by monsters (likely from the Diablo series). This panel was captioned, "Corporate needs you to find the differences between this picture and this picture." In the second panel, Pam from "The Office" stated, "They're the same picture."
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 26, 2023
The impact of the Piper Perri meme
The Piper Perri meme is a prime example of how a single image can gain a life of its own online. Despite its racist origin in adult entertainment, but also because of it, the meme became a popular among various online communities. While some argue that the varied uses of the meme have stripped away the racism of the original image, others content that no matter how it's used, the image is still problematic given its racist underpinnings.
@youneedsomemilk87 #fyp#foryoupage #xbox#piperperri ♬ original sound - ????????
Despite its problematic origin, the Piper Perri meme's evolution into becoming an internet sensation highlights the dynamic nature of meme culture. Its adaptability and the online community's creativity in reinterpreting the image have cemented its place in the annals of meme history.
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