Crying Jordan, Crying MJ, or Crying Michael Jordan is an Internet meme in which an image of NBAHall of Famer Michael Jordan crying is superimposed on images of athletes or others who have suffered misfortune.
Creation and timeline
The source photo was taken by Associated Press photographer Stephan Savoia during Jordan's speech at his Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on September 11, 2009. The image was used in 2012, without modification, to comment on Jordan's decision to buy the Charlotte Bobcats NBA franchise. The photoshopped head alone was first used in 2014 by posters on internet message board Boxden.com. "Crying Jordan" began to attract mainstream media attention in late 2015 and early 2016. After Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals, in which the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers to take a 3–1 series lead, a media producer purchased the domain CryingJordan.com and sent a re-direct to LeBron James' profile page on the Cleveland Cavaliers website. The Cavaliers would go on to win the series 4–3. An open-sourcemobile app called "The Crying Jordan Meme Generator" allows users to easily add the Jordan image to other images, and has been downloaded by several thousand people. Media critics have suggested that the popularity of the meme stems in part because "t's the ultimate alpha in a vulnerable position", and that "people simultaneously mock and celebrate... a masculine star who expresses vulnerability".
Usage
Outside the Internet world, the meme has been referenced in interviews by various athletes and public figures, such as basketball player Draymond Green, professional golferJordan Spieth, and the rapper Schoolboy Q. Various athletes, like Steph Curry, Jon Jones and Roberto Luongo have also used the image self-deprecatingly on social media after struggling or failing in games, or having suffered some other misfortune. Outside of sports, the image has also been used in combination with images of politicians like Barack Obama and Marco Rubio.
Ties to Jordan
The meme was heavily used after North Carolina lost to Villanova in the 2016 National Championship, during which Jordan was in attendance. On November 22nd, 2016, when awarding a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jordan, President Obama joked that he was "more than just an internet meme". Jordan's spokesperson has told the press that Jordan himself finds the meme funny. On 24 February 2020, Jordan eulogized the passing of former Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna at an event held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. During the eulogy, Jordan began to cry and acknowledged that this might give rise to another Crying Meme accordingly, stating: "Now he has me . Now I will have to look at another Crying Meme I told my wife I wasn't going to do this because I didn't want to see that for the next three or four years. That is what Kobe Bryant does to me."
