Crying Jordan, Crying MJ, or Crying Michael Jordan is an Internet meme in which an image of NBA player Michael Jordan crying is superimposed on images of athletes or others who have suffered misfortune.
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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.
Creation and timeline
The image was used in 2012, without modification, to comment on Jordan's decision to buy the Charlotte Bobcats NBA franchise, and was in use on a variety of message boards by 2014.
"Crying Jordan" began to attract mainstream media attention in late 2015 and early 2016. The meme began to spark a backlash in the sports media in early 2016, as some sports media figures complained that the meme was unoriginal or had become overused.
An open-source mobile 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 "[i]t's the ultimate alpha [male] 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 golfer Jordan Spieth, and the rapper Schoolboy Q. Various athletes, like Steph Curry and Roberto Luongo, have also used the image self-deprecatingly on social media after struggling or failing in games. 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 (Jordan's alma mater) 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.