The Elon Musk jumping meme is a photograph from a 2024 Donald Trump rally where the Twitter owner got a little too excited. Surrounding journalists captured footage and photos of Musk leaping into the air on stage with his hands up as he tried to hype the crowd, but ended up looking awkward and called “cringe,” particularly after he boasted, “not just MAGA, I’m dark MAGA.”
One photo in particular, captured by AP photographer Evan Vucci, drew mockery from Musk critics on his platform as well as other social media sites. It wasn’t long before people started Photoshopping jumping Elon Musk into other memes and scenes from popular media.
Elon Musk Trump rally video
The site of the Elon Musk jumping meme was also the site of the (first) assassination attempt on Trump on July 13, 2024. The former president returned to the scene in Butler, Pennsylvania on October 5 so that he could use the incident of gun violence which killed someone in the crowd to promote his current presidential campaign.
The Trump team invited Musk as a guest speaker for this event after he endorsed the Republican candidate after the shooting. Trump introduced Musk by saying he “saved free speech” and the Twitter owner responded to cheers from the crowd by jumping into the air twice, each time barely putting space between his feet and the stage.
The video footage of these hops is awkward enough, and Twitter users spread it faster than bots spread on a failing social media platform.
But the still photos, as is often true with action shots, are even worse. One tweet posting the shot by @dougmillsnyt went viral within hours.
What is the Elon Musk jumping meme?
The most common form of the meme uses a photo of Musk in mid-air with his arms up and black jacket flapping upward to show his “Occupy Mars” shirt he paired with a black MAGA hat. The most memorable aspect of the image is his facial expression, which gives him less of a divorced dad look and more of a neglected child who never developed social skills vibe.
Like many attempts to make politics seem cool, this was such a drastic failure that more than just Kamala Harris fans were using the photo to make fun of Musk.
A new Soyjak is born
By October 6, someone had created a new version of the Soyjak meme based on the Elon Musk jumping meme. User @antii__dote posted the drawing as a close-up of Musk’s weird face in the MAGA hat in the style of the long-disparaged Wojak in response to a prompt by @SpaghettiKozak.
Other Soyjaks were submitted for consideration, but this version proved to be the most popular.
On the same day, user @ClassicalSocdem posted a Fallen Chungus version of the meme photo that highlights both Musk’s awkward expression and Trump’s concerned reaction as he stands at the podium. You might have missed it on the first viewing, but the other funny part of the image is Donald Trump giving his guest some serious side-eye.
Meme examples
More Elon Musk memes:
- ‘That’s Musk’s entire career right there’: Elon Musk’s exploding Starship launches explosion of Twitter memes
- These Elon Musk memes show he only cares about one thing
- 25 of the funniest Cybertruck memes on the internet
- Elon Musk immediately made the Trump assassination attempt about himself
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