Life & CultureNewsLife & Culture / NewsThe Distracted Boyfriend meme was actually invented in 1922Charlie Chaplin is the original scumbag boyfriendShareLink copied ✔️June 12, 2018June 12, 2018TextAnna Cafolla ‘Distracted boyfriend’ was a popular meme format a few months ago, or for all the Extremely Online folk, approximately 2,000 internet-years ago. It features a boyfriend and girlfriend hand-in-hand, with the man looking back with interest at another woman, the original woman observing in shock and disgust. Memers perused the format to highlight giving unnecessary attention to something new: forgoing the boys for a cold one, or a strong, stable career and housing situation for avocado toast. We previously tracked down the Barcelona-based stock photographer whose image reigned supreme on Twitter for 2.5 seconds, but apparently this tableaux wasn’t as new and innovative as first thought. As Gizmodo reports, the original scene (titled “Disloyal Man Walking With His Girlfriend and Looking Amazed at Another Seductive Girl”) mirrors one first played out by Charlie Chaplin almost a century ago. Peter Goldberg, a film writer and Twitter person, posted the lookalike image on Twitter. The image above comes from Charlie Chaplin’s short film Pay Day, originally made in 1922. It sees Chaplin in a classic role, down on his luck and unable to bring dollar home. This scene in question sees his wife follow him to see where the money is going, while Chaplin, not knowing his wife is there, checks out another woman. Since then, it’s become a little meme format in itself. There, fixed it pic.twitter.com/HYHAqp9aq9— Tom Ryan (@tomdryan) June 11, 2018pic.twitter.com/b4tmn9Er5c— balkan baddie. (@BalkanBaddie) June 12, 2018 However, as recent EU law proposals have threatened, meme-ing as we know it might come to a complete end. A proposed change to EU copyright law, in the form of Article 13, mean internet platforms and social networks would be totally responsible for filtering user-generated content, like text, video, and memes. It could affect free speech, and internet culture. pic.twitter.com/xT0wX1WnnT— leon (@leyawn) August 22, 2017Expand your creative community and connect with 15,000 creatives from around the world.READ MORE‘Misogyny by design’: Is it possible to escape getting ‘undressed’ by AI?Björk slams Trump, Denmark and colonialismA list of very serious pop culture predictions for 2026Our most-read sex and relationships stories of 2025The 21st Century: Q1 Review2025 was the year of the Gen Z uprisingThe 12 most anticipated novels of 2026 More and more men want to be pegged, according to FeeldBetween slop and enshittification, 2025 saw the internet implode5 Amish youth on what people get wrong about themGreta Thunberg arrested in London under the Terrorism ActLoop: The brand making earplugs as essential as sunglasses