It’s time to say goodbye to Sean Spicer, the human meme of the Trump White House – Washington Post

The transformation of Sean Spicer from mere press secretary to human meme began the day after Trump became president. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration period both in person and around the globe, Spicer said in a forceful statement to reporters on Jan. 21. He was sent out to dispute reports about the size of the crowd on Inauguration Day, but several of his key facts were wrong, and #spicerfacts became a Twitter meme. The joke was, #Spicerfacts were not, strictly speaking, facts.

[Spicer resigns as White House press secretary, Scaramucci to be communications director]

Spicer resigned as White House spokesmanon Friday, afterAnthony Scaramucci was appointed White House communications director. With Spicersresignation, its also time to say goodbye to the semi-fictional character the Internet created out of Spicer.

Spicer, the human meme, was at times the embodiment ofthe Trump administrations combativeness withthe mainstream media hence the lasting power of #spicerfacts. At other times, he was kind of a sequel to the character the Internet created of Jeb! please clap Bush a sad figure whose dreams were crushed by the surprise rise of Trump.

A few weeks ago, Funny or Die re-cut Sarah McLachlans famous ASPCA commercial to plead for help for Spicer. Being the White House press secretary was Sean Spicers dream, the parody says. He will have nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Sean Spicer needs your help.

The memes of Spicer hiding in or, more precisely among the bushes caught the Internets imagination so fully in May that someone made real cutouts of an image of Spicers headto place in real bushes. The idea went viral.Lisa Kadonaga, the creator of the cutouts, speculated in interviews that the meme spread in part because people feltkind of bad for the press secretary:

I think it really struck a chord with people realizing, Gee, that could be me up there, she said to a Canadian media outlet. Later, she added, I do feel sorry for the guy.

The memed version of Spicers short tenure as press secretary is often a bit more fan fiction than documentation, but there were several real-world moments that helped to fuel it. There was, of course, the bushes incident. But the most heartbreaking one was probably when Trump met Pope Francis: Spicer, a Catholic,wasnt invited to the meeting. Reporters publicly expressed sympathy:

When asked about the absence, a source close to the White House said the following to CNN: Wow. Thats all he wanted.

The Spicer meme character was always chaotic, a weird juxtaposition how Spicer did his job while defending the administrations statements and policies, and of the mans more lighthearted idiosyncrasies. Just days after his tense address to the media about the inauguration crowd size, a side story emerged about his longtime feud with Dippin Dots, the ice cream-like product. There was also the mystery of some truly strange tweets from his @PressSec account during his first week on the job (many speculated that perhaps Spicer had inadvertently tweeted his password).

But it was Melissa McCarthys portrayal of Spicer on Saturday Night Live that best captured the mix of absurdity and sympathy of the Internets vision for him. McCarthy played Spicer as an ineloquent bully, but onethe audience still sort of rooted for. When Spicer returnedto the show in May, this was in full effect.

But what if hes lying to you? a reporter asks McCarthys Spicer in the sketch.

He wouldnt do that; hes my friend, Spicer replies.

If hes your friend, why does he make you come out here and humiliate yourself every day? another reporter asks.

Spicer then abruptly leaves the news conference and heads to New York to ask the president, Have you ever told me to say things that arent true? Please watch, if you havent:

Upon news of Spicers resignation Friday morning, the Internet filled up with tributes to the character theyd created out of the mans six months as White House press secretary.

Well miss you, Super Deluxe tweeted Friday, after changing their Twitter name to Spicer Deluxe in tribute. The outlet known for its political satire then published a supercut of Spicer stuttering at the White House lectern.

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It's time to say goodbye to Sean Spicer, the human meme of the Trump White House - Washington Post