John Silver Explaining to Anna Jay

About

John Silver Explaining to Anna Jay refers to a series of image caption memes based on a still image of wrestler John Silver talking to wrestler Anna Jay, who is looking away while bulging her eyes, as if the topic Silver is talking about is weirding her out or she's trying to escape. The image, which originates from an episode of the "Being The Elite" YouTube series, gained virality on Twitter in February 2022, being used similarly to the Bro Explaining format.

Origin

On September 13th, 2021, YouTube^[1] channel Being The Elite, which hosts the entertainment series run by The Elite professional wrestling stable, uploaded episode 273 "Catching Up" of the show. In one sketch within the episode, wrestler John Silver pretends to be drunk and is talking to fellow wrestler Anna Jay, barraging her with personal stories, acting more unhinged as the sketch progresses. Jay is acting annoyed and unwilling to continue the conversation (scene begins at the 7:00 mark).

On February 7th, 2022, Twitter^[2] account @good_faces_bot posted a still image of Silver and Jay from the episode, with Silver saying something to Jay while she is looking away while bulging her eyes as if uncomfortable or weirded out by Silver. The post gained over 620 retweets, 1,400 quote tweets and 9,500 likes in four days (shown below).

Precursor

In early February 2021, similar images of Silver and Jay from episode 241 "The Betrayal Is Real"^[3] of the show found limited use in memes on Twitter^[4][5] (examples shown below).

Spread

Starting on February 7th, 2022, users on Twitter quote tweeted the post, captioning it with a monologue with which Silver could have been annoying Jay. For example, Twitter^[6] user @benpaste posted a meme referencing 2b2t that gained over 3,400 retweets and 53,100 likes in four days (shown below, left). On February 9th, 2022, Twitter^[7] user @kielbasagarage posted a meme about NFTs that gained over 16,500 retweets and 177,100 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Related Memes

Girl Explaining / Bro Girl

Girl Explaining, also known as Girl Bro Explaining or simply Bro Girl, is a photo of a woman at a concert appearing to loudly talk to a guy with a blank expression while wrapping one arm around him and gesturing off towards the distance in the direction of the camera. The reaction image appeared in early 2019 in Spanish-speaking meme circles and is typically used to circulate female-themed versions of the Bro Explaining meme with the genders swapped.

Milk Edinburgh

Milk Edinburgh, sometimes called Guy Explaining, is a photo of a man shouting into a woman's ear at a dance club. The image was shared online with captions imagining the man saying something that would make the woman appear bored. The photo was taken at Milk, a dance club in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was shared in memes with the club's logo on the photograph, hence the meme's name "Milk Edinburgh."

Bro Explaining

Bro Explaining refers to a photograph of a man wearing sunglasses and a Houston Astros shirt talking to a blonde woman in a white top. Circulated since 2011, in March 2020, the image gained popularity as a meme in which the man forces his knowledge about various topics, such as video game lore, onto the woman.

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References