It all started with a Facebook event where 1.5 million people RSVPd. The event in question was called “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us,” and it took advantage of the mythology that surrounds the area, which is presumed to be filled with a lot of weird and possibly galactic stuff.
This secretive military base located in southern Nevada has been the inspiration for millions of science fiction stories and movies. So, perfect stuff for memes. The event, created as some sort of meta joke, stated the plan of action: “We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry. If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Lets see them aliens.”
With that Naruto inside joke that references the way in which the anime character runs, the organizers of the event targeted — or perhaps isolated — a large subset of people.
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“Any attempt to illegally access the area is highly discouraged,” said an Air Force spokesperson to NPR, showing no apparent ability to detect sarcasm or humor.
Now that that’s cleared, let’s get to the memes! So popular were they that brands like Funyons and Burger King had to get involved and reap some “Likes”, signaling that maybe the meme was overstaying its welcome.
Check out some of the best and most notorious Area 51 memes:
The alien I stole from Area 51 showing up in my room at 3am to tell me he threw up pic.twitter.com/SnzXmozc1i
— yeet (@irritatingshit1) July 12, 2019
The U.S government when everyone arrives at area 51
pic.twitter.com/Mn3h2uZcpb
— Rocco (@realistzen) July 12, 2019
The most accurate of all the Area 51 memes pic.twitter.com/nZKw2fp6hN
— Caleb B. Gwaltney (@Caleb_Brentley) July 12, 2019
me entering area 51 and actually finding an alien #Area51 #Area51memes pic.twitter.com/ng6SzTSk3e
— b (@brklynn17) July 13, 2019
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Me and the alien I’m finna rescue from Area 51 cruising back to the hood to scoop the homies #StormArea51 pic.twitter.com/GwjSgkHl43
— J-Money40 (@money40_j) July 12, 2019
the us government finally freed the bro pic.twitter.com/dkwmyXsx5c
— nope (@LilNasX) July 17, 2019
This is the entire summer of 2019 compressed into one tweet. https://t.co/2pIS7PDTGC
— Jimmy Chi @ SDCC (Invite me to parties plz) (@FailedAsian) July 16, 2019
Us: We’re going to raid Area 51! There’s some suspicious stuff going on over there.
Area 51 Aliens: pic.twitter.com/kj0rS8sGyi— Funyuns (@TheRealFunyuns) July 12, 2019