The famous “clenched fist” meme taken from the animated TV series “Arthur” has turned 25, and the well-known image has two big celebrities to thank for its popularity. The meme began as a moment in a Season 4 episode of the PBS children’s show. The episode, “Arthur’s Big Hit,” aired in the US on Oct.
4, 1999, and focused on teaching kids why they shouldn’t try to solve their problems with violence. In one part of the show, Arthur gets frustrated with his younger sister, D.W.
, after she drops a model plane that he made out of a window, mistakenly believing it would fly. After it gets damaged, she blames him, saying he should have built it better. Meanwhile, Arthur is stewing, remembering all the times he told his sister not to touch the plane.
He then clenches his fist and hits her. The image of Arthur’s clenched fist began to gain traction online in 2016 . In February 2017, one person on Twitter (now X) posted a side-by-side of Arthur and singer John Legend, 45, writing, “John Legend look like Arthur lowkey.
” Just a couple of days later, Legend’s wife, Chrissy Teigen, 38, weighed in. “John when you tell him he looks like Arthur,” the model tweeted alongside the “Arthur” clenched fist meme. Teigen’s post has since been deleted.
Legend didn’t get the reference. “I hadn’t even heard of this Arthur character til now,” the crooner replied to Teigen’s tweet. “Was he around when I was a kid?” That moment propelled the meme to new hei.
