# Kevin James Smirking Meme

> The smirking photo became Google's No. 1 trending US meme search of 2023.

- Owner: null
- Kind: Meme & format
- Sector: Culture (no sector)
- Seed date: 2023-09-22
- Peak date: Oct 2023
- Date basis: Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 39 (Niche), v1.2
- Mechanics: Remixable template, Platform jump, Press loop, Political adoption, Creator relay

## Summary

An X user captioned a King of Queens publicity photo. Users reused it on X, Instagram, TikTok and Reddit; Fetterman adopted it in a dress-code dispute. James promoted his tour with it, sellers printed shirts, and Google ranked it first among US meme search trends.

## Timeline

- 2023-09-22 — @ChampagneAnyone (X) — @ChampagneAnyone captioned James’s smirking photo “me after 1 double rum and diet”.
- 2023-09-25 — NME (Press) — NME explained the caption format and reproduced several users’ versions of the photo.
- 2023-09-25 — Instagram users (Instagram) — Instagram users had adopted the captioned photo by the time the report appeared.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/kevin-james-smirking-meme

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Kevin James Smirking Meme.” Case HIS-00244. Spread Score v1.2: 39/100. Updated 2026-10-13. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-00244