The Gay Little Monkey at the Apple Store: A history

The Gay Little Monkey meme references an image of a little boy wearing a tight, one-piece monkey costume in an Apple Store standing with one leg bent and leaning on the other as he plays on an iPad. The image first went viral in the early 2010s and has since enjoyed many iterations that poke fun at the costume and posture of the child photographed.

Gay Little Monkey origins

The earliest evidence of this photo being used as a meme is its inclusion in a 2010 meme dump on the blog Zany Pickle. The image circulated on its own throughout the next few years. It enjoyed a boost after appearing in a 2012 Reddit post.

By the late 2010s, the monkey boy photo began being formatted into memes across social media. Initially, it caught on with the macro, "What the f--k gay little monkey boy?" As it gained popularity, different phrases and different iterations of the little boy began to appear.

Gay Little Monkey at Gamestop

The meme was revived when the little monkey boy was photoshopped out of his Apple Store surroundings. He was inserted into GameStop, spelled "ganestop" in the meme.

Gay Little Monkey AI images

This simple and silly meme returned to the digital spotlight in late 2023. As people began experimenting with AI image generators, someone began slotting different celebrities into the meme format.

Originated by TikToker @microplasticangel, AI-generated images of singer Lana Del Ray and actor Timothée Chalamet. In one photo set, the two spend time together in an Apple Store. They are both dressed as the little gay monkeys in images so believable that some were duped into believing they are real.

Another set of images has the pair enjoying a cozy cabin Thanksgiving together. Though the setting is different, they are both still dressed in the meme's signature costume.

Another take on the meme starring Ed Sheeran, with people poking fun at the popular but polarizing singer.

Meme examples:

Related memes:

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• Is the ‘gayyyy’ meme homophobic? Everything you need to know
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