![John Lennon's Assassination John Lennon being killed by Mark David Chapman in two memes about his murder.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/039/414/8675309.jpg)
John Lennon's Assassination
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Overview
John Lennon's Assassination refers to the death of The Beatles member John Lennon in December 1980 in New York City by his killer Mark David Chapman. Beginning around the early 2010s, Lennon's murder became a notable subject in memes, including image macros about what killed him, killing him again, POV roleplays about being the one who shot him or memes from the perspective of Chapman.
Background
On December 8th, 1980, Mark David Chapman, a Beatles fan who was allegedly upset by John Lennon's lifestyle and a comment years prior he made that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus," went up to Lennon in New York City at the archway of his residence, The Dakota. After asking for his autograph earlier that day, Chapman returned to The Dakota later that night and shot Lennon in the back with a .38 snub-nosed pistol, killing him.
Developments
Lennon's Murder In Memes
The exact first meme to reference Lennon's murder is unknown, but such memes appeared online at least as early as 2011 as the public opinion of Lennon became more negative after knowledge of his domestic abuse and other facts were exposed. One of the first memes to seemingly support Chapman over Lennon was a cyberbully meme template that had Chapman's mugshot used as an avatar in a chatroom, writing a message to "bully" Lennon. The meme's original source was lost, but it was posted to GotFunnyPictures on October 25th, 2011, by user VintageVCR[1] (shown below).
![uraphonyjohnny.jpg Her fake VII she strips all her clothes 0 COMMENT) (0) LIK Ur a phony Johnny,](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/191/421/uraphonyjohnny.jpg)
Memes about Lennon's assassination were seen sporadically for several years, with the most prominent examples made using an Advice Animal template of John Lennon made for the site MemeGenerator on July 27th, 2011[2]. An example of this was uploaded[3] anonymously to the website (shown below).
![john lennon MY LAST HIT WAS THE PAVEMENT Tmenieyenerator.net](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/298/716/557.jpg)
Around 2019, Lennon's assassination saw a notable resurgence as a topic in memes with newer formats being utilized. An example of this was uploaded to Facebook by the page JohnLennonYokoPosting2007[4] on February 8th, 2019, using the Doge meme (shown below).
![lennon ISURE LOVE BEATING MY WIFE AND BEING ALIVE IN NYC ON THE 8TH OF DECEMBER OF 1980](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/298/710/555.jpg)
Memes about his death began to move cross-platform as well, as seen in the Doom Soundtrack Parody meme uploaded to the subreddit /r/Memes on August 27th, 2020, by Redditor[5] universal_boner, gaining 50 upvotes in two years (shown below).
![john lennon Women in the afterlife I missed you Grandma! I missed you! too sweetie! Men in the afterlife Where the f--- is John Lennon?](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/298/715/f09.jpg)
Various Examples
![john lennon The bullet of a .38 Snubnose Revolver when it spots John Lennon Me. Inside your head. Now!](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/298/788/cd6.png)
![john lennon John Lennon John Lennon started a live video. LIVE O 166](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/298/790/e20.png)
![john lennon Hola señor Lennon @memesvirgos Soy su fan](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/298/730/1ba.jpg)
![john lennon John Lennon: *gets shot* Mark David Chapman: How about next time you get a Beatle that can handle the ChapmanStyle](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/298/718/9b2.png)
![lennon G62 ARMS "ארר BULL 48 SHEL 4 RCKT O CELL O 200 50 50 AMMO HEALTH ARMOR](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/298/711/be3.jpg)
![john lennon John Lennon after imagining there was no bullet](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/298/785/a4a.png)
Search Interest
External References
[1] KYM – VintageVCR
[2] MemeGenerator – John Lennon
[4] Facebook – JOHNLENNONYOKOPOSTING 2007
[5] Reddit – universal_boner
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Top Comments
Spaztastic Man
Jan 26, 2022 at 08:50PM EST
Mr. Draw Your Girl
Jan 26, 2022 at 05:30PM EST