This is a picture of Demi Lovato ahead of her Royal Variety Performance at London’s Palladium Theater.
Here’s another one.
And if you were to take the Tumblr meme world at face value, here’s Demi’s ugly twin sister Poot finally seeing the light of day after a life in the basement.
The Royal Variety Performance is an annual variety show in London, whose proceeds go to the Royal Variety Charity, and is famously attended by the British royal family every year.
In 2014, Demi Lovato performed, and on her way into the event, a fan was able to take this photo on their cell phone.
At some point in the next year, the original image was both warped and reposted to Tumblr. But the spread and title of the meme didn’t come until a little later.
In October of 2015, a Tumblr user reposted the image with the caption “Demi’s twin sister. She was locked in a basement her whole life. This picture was taken the first time she went outside. Her name is Poot.”
Before the post was deleted it reached almost 6 figures in notes.
Almost immediately following, the Twitter account @Official_Poot launched, tweeting in-character as Demi’s sister, followed by @itmepootpoot, and a host of other fan accounts.
The following week, a Poot fan began to create a 24-part backstory for the character, titled appropriately “The Secret Life of Poot Lovato.”
Poot is commonly posted as little more than a funny ugly picture, but it’s also often juxtaposed with a “real” photo of Demi, creating a two-part joke about how something has deteriorated. On that level, it’s like a lot of other memes, fun, and cheeky, a little derisive, but dismissed quickly and without much thought.
But it’s also faced criticism. Many users find it to be ableist—especially when considering the Poot’s backstory—not to mention the fact that people actually do get trafficked, and locked in basements. And that’s not something to joke about.
At first, Demi herself was not amused whatsoever—tweeting sarcastically, “cool to see a shitty angle turn into a meme that circulates the internet for people’s amusement…”
But ultimately she came around to it, posting a gif version of it a few years later, and apparently celebrating her 31st birthday with Poot cupcakes.
So if you’re a student of the more bizarre things the internet has on offer for entertainment, Poot Lovato is a good moment to be aware of.
The more you think about it, the easier it is to be upset by it, sure. But if you want to enjoy Poot, a way to go might be to just not overthink it.
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