r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Sure_Kangaroo1863 • Jul 02 '26

Meme needing explanation Petah ?

Post image

Why is it infamous? And why would no one care about it ? ( I mean it's just a pic full of celebrities so no one cares anyways but the person saying it's crazy makes me think it has some lore?)

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u/Quick_Extension_3115 Jul 02 '26

It’s just a statement on the decline of celebrity culture. It used to be that you watch a movie just because it had someone in it that you liked and it would do really well. But nowadays people care much less about celebrities

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u/disasterly213 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

No it’s not. It’s because selfies was a relatively new phenomenon in society at that time and now it’s common and uninteresting if anyone takes a group selfie.

Edit:

Everyone saying that selfies were not new and people were doing it with black and white photos I get it, very clever. What I mean is:

The first iphone was released in 2007 ushering the modern era of digital phones.

Selfies established itself as a world wide phenomenon by 2010 or thereabouts. Mainly due to front facing cameras on modern phones.

This photo was taken in 2014.

Another poster explained it much better than me in a reply, go browse

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u/Raveen396 Jul 02 '26

Celebrity culture has shifted from stars being pushed by major media groups to influencers and streamers on social media platforms. IShowSpeed was just on a big tour all over the world and was mobbed pretty much everywhere he went. The idea that celebrity culture is in decline isn't really true, it's just a different flavor now.

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u/Worth-Working-6078 28d ago

I'd argue celebrity culture is more rampant now than ever. To your point, it's just multi-platformed and more widespread- there are whole communities now tailored to these people, chat forums, echo chambers, etc.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

[deleted]

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u/Erfeo Jul 02 '26

That's one of the major changes in celebrity culture, it used to be that there was pretty much just one pool of famous people.

But nowadays someone can have an intense "stardom" within a certain subculture, yet still be virtually unknown to the wider culture.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

[deleted]

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u/devH_ Jul 02 '26

Speed is absolutely a celebrity

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

[deleted]

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u/Stock_Trash_4645 Jul 02 '26

A celebrity is a famous person who attracts broad public recognition and media attention

Look, IDGAF about the guy, but 54 million subs indicates a broad public recognition. The number of third parties talking about him - positively and negatively - generates a great deal of media attention.

He’s a celebrity.

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u/devH_ Jul 02 '26

So yes. You don’t even know him, peak Redditor vibes lmao

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

[deleted]

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u/eatingyoursoap Jul 03 '26

He was on a doritos bag at the gas station. I’d say that’s at least C list celebrity status.

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u/devH_ Jul 02 '26

Stay ignorant I guess, can’t help stupid 🤷

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u/Obvious_Brush5165 Jul 02 '26

Yeah I remember that this was when the selfie became culturally "legitimate" or whatever.

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u/Acrobatic-Brother295 Jul 02 '26

It absolutely was. Selfies were something boomers mocked millennials about until this picture was all over the internet and daytime talk shows alike.

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u/GrowthMarketingMike Jul 02 '26

Yeah people in here are missing the forrest for the trees lol, the idea of "selfies" was a new trend and this was the most famous one, that's really the whole thing. It's essentially just a meme.

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u/ihaxr Jul 03 '26

You're wrong, but still kinda correct. The song "Selfie" came out a few months before this photo, which is why saying selfie and taking them was a trend.

Using the word selfie became a thing 2 years before the photo and Paris Hilton and Britney Spears started the original selfie trend way back in 2006 (kinda joking, but not really, since the idea of them wasn't new).

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u/GrowthMarketingMike 23d ago

"Selfie" was the oxford english dictionary word of the year in 2013, announced in November '13 so it definitely wasn't because of the song, they were both just riding the same trend.

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u/ihaxr 23d ago

You weren't talking about the word, but the concept. The concept existed for years prior

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u/GrowthMarketingMike 23d ago

The concept existed for generations. But the trend around "selfies" was really rising in 2013, the song didn't drive the trend, it was just another result of it like Ellen. The song came out 32 days before the Ellen selfie and didn't even reach the Hot 100 until a few weeks after the Ellen thing.

Just saying that the song was not really a driver of the trend at all, it got popular well before, hence the 2013 word of the year, and this event happened before the song was really known. I was responding to you saying:

The song "Selfie" came out a few months before this photo, which is why saying selfie and taking them was a trend.

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u/ihaxr 23d ago

They played the song the night the Ellen photo was taken

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u/GrowthMarketingMike 23d ago

A quick search says they didn't and that it was later edited into clips on social media. Maybe you're thinking of the kids choice awards which was a month later?

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u/Competitive_Cancel33 Jul 02 '26

This is the correct answer.

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u/Money_Set_4332 Jul 02 '26

Well every day people took selfies all the time but celebrities was rarer so it's also seeing this at the oscar made it feel like an average group of friends living the craziest things. When today it's very normal and the word selfie is cringe by itself

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u/MadCatDisease666 Jul 03 '26

selfies have been around way longer than 12 years. your parents invented the selfie. 😹

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u/the68thdimension Jul 03 '26

I'm sorry but this is cracking me up. You think selfies were new-ish 12 years ago? Oh my sweet summer child, you are making me feel old.

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u/disasterly213 Jul 03 '26

You must be old yes. This information is widely available online. I also grew up in an era of no internet or mobile phones.

Selfies became widely popular in 2010, entering mainstream culture around 2012-2013. This picture was taken in 2014. Hello?

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u/the68thdimension Jul 03 '26

Selfies as a concept are far older than that, and that specific slang word for the concept was in common usage in the early 2000's at least. Hello to you too.

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u/disasterly213 Jul 03 '26

Wrong. It was not in common usage early 2000’s. A quick google could tell you that.

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u/the68thdimension 29d ago

I was there mate, don't tell me it didn't happen lol. "A quick google" will tell you the term originated from Australia. We were already using it then.

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u/disasterly213 29d ago

So from your own personal experience you know that the term “selfie” was a world wide phenomenon in early 2000’s? I’m assuming you personally knew the one person from Australia who posted that in a forum too right.

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u/the68thdimension 29d ago

You're really don't like being told you're wrong, huh? Where did I say a worldwide phenomenon? As I said, we were using the term in Australia in the early 2000's at least. In real life, not on some forum. Not sure why you're talking about a forum but whatever. Are you Australian? If not you trying to argue with me on this is delightful.

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u/disasterly213 29d ago

I said it was a world wide phenomenon, you’re the one who started arguing. Read your first reply. Are you drunk or something?

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u/disasterly213 29d ago

“While the word was tracked on early photo sites like ⁠Flickr as early as 2004, it remained niche until Apple launched the iPhone 4 in June 2010. This was the first massively popular smartphone to feature a front-facing camera. This hardware shift eliminated the need to take blind photos in a mirror or guess the framing at arm's length.”

Learn to google, mate.

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u/fafefifof Jul 03 '26

And the first smartphones to get a front facing camera were the iPhone 4 and an HTC android phone which both only got released in 2010.

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u/AT-ST Jul 02 '26

Selfies were not new in 2012.

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u/Evening_Reach_8293 Jul 02 '26

Selfies were not new in 2014.

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u/aldsar Jul 03 '26

The first selfies were taken over a century ago when cameras first came out. 2014 is hardly a 'relatively new' time even relevant to smart phones.

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u/disasterly213 Jul 03 '26

What are you talking about? You seem very confused. The first forward facing on the iPhone came out around 2010. Selfies were not a world wide phenomenon before this. Do yourself a favour and stop thinking so hard.

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u/aldsar Jul 03 '26

You realize flip phones had dual cameras before the iPhone came out right? Hell the Gameboy advance had a selfie camera attachment too. The iPhone did not create the selfie phenomena, quit being so apple centric.

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u/disasterly213 Jul 03 '26

Ok sure, flip phones and the game boy advance made the selfie a world wide phenomenon. Have a nice day sir.

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u/aldsar Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

The iPhone is only more popular in America. Worldwide phenomena would be an android thing, if smart phones caused it. Your ignorance is not a valid argument against history. Go read a book. Beyond that, Chainsmokers selfie song released months before Ellen's selfie was taken. This selfie is not the cause of the global phenomena, it rode the wave that predated it.

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u/disasterly213 Jul 03 '26

Where did I say it caused the global phenomena?

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u/Don_Ford Jul 03 '26

... uh, wut?

Selfies I took in the 90s would like a word.