Pepe the King Prawn appears at the Whatnot Workshop at FAO Schwarz on November 11, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The Muppets Studio)
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A Muppet known as “Pepe the King Prawn” has gone viral on TikTok, his disheveled face often accompanied by an embarrassing or traumatic story.
The meme is specifically set to the choir version of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” from the climax of Deadpool & Wolverine.
Who Is Pepe The King Prawn?
Pepe the King Prawn is a Spanish Muppet with four arms, orange skin and straggly hair; the character is known for being an outrageous flirt, and being offended when people refer to him as a shrimp.
While Pepe isn’t nearly as well-known as Kermit or Gonzo, he was actually the favorite character of Franz Oz, creator of The Muppets.
Pepe is also the name of the internet’s most powerful, enduring and controversial memes, Pepe the Frog, but the two characters are completely unrelated.
Pepe the King Prawn’s haggard appearance has inspired memes before, but in December, Pepe went viral on TikTok, after a pixelated picture of the frazzled Muppet proved a popular “storytime” template.
The Pepe picture encapsulates exhaustion, bemusement and panic, but it was the song that really gave the meme life.
Where Did The Pepe The King Prawn Meme Come From?
According to Know Your Meme, the first instance of the Pepe the King Prawn meme was posted in late November by TikToker @caitycline21, who captioned the image, “Sometimes I’m late because I’m spending too much time like this.”
This first post used the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme tune, and proved popular, but not viral, gathering 180,000 views.
She followed it up with another Pepe post, set to a tune from Spongebob Squarepants, but this performed worse, with just over a thousand views.
On the third attempt, @caitycline21 cracked the code, posting the picture of Pepe set to the Deadpool & Wolverine version of “Like a Prayer” with the caption, “The face I make when I’m trying to maintain great customer service while getting screamed at.”
The relatable caption and melodramatic song proved a potent blend, with the post gathering more than 4 million views, the spark that ignited the meme.
How Did The Muppet Meme Spread?
Pepe the King Prawn quickly spread as a simple relatable image about stress, then morphed into a storytelling format for TikTokers to tell embarrassing stories.
Many of the posts are surprisingly long, using several Pepe slides to go into detail about the most terrible, and hilarious, things that have ever happened to them.
There’s a story about a packet of Skittles causing humiliation in the airport, and an engrossing tale about an unintentionally terrifying Peppa Pig performance at a children’s party.
It didn’t take long for celebrities to join in; Ed Sheeran told a great story about a chaotic trip with Benny Blanco.
But the star of the meme might be TikTok creator Megan Chacalos, whose story of a hair mask that turned into a slippery disaster gained her the nickname “Olive Oil Girl.”
Inevitably, the muppet has inspired a memecoin, along with a cluster of hilarious anecdotes.
However, one gets the sense that many of these embarrassing stories might never have seen the light of day without the frazzled face of Pepe to hide behind.
Ironically, Pepe the King Prawn brought some TikTokers out of their shell—just don’t call him a shrimp.
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