Why Meme: Every Why Reaction Format and Where Each One Came From
Why meme is not one image. Several unrelated formats answer to the name, and the closest thing to a canonical one is Y Tho, an image macro built on Fernando Botero’s 1964 painting Pope Leo X (after Raphael), better known online as Baby Pope.
Where the why meme came from
The honest answer is that it came from several places, because why is a reaction rather than a format. Nobody built a why meme. A handful of images and clips each captured a different flavour of asking why, and search traffic for the phrase splits between them. Here is what each one actually is, with dates.
| Format | Source | Dated moment |
|---|---|---|
| Y Tho | Fernando Botero, Pope Leo X (after Raphael), 1964, a reworking of a Renaissance portrait by Raphael | Phrase on Urban Dictionary 19 February 2007; image macro uploaded to Imgur 12 December 2014; a high-resolution repost by Imgur user collius on 12 May 2015 reached 1.2 million views |
| But why? | Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, 2004. Ryan Reynolds, uncredited as a nurse, lowers his mask and asks but why when Kumar requests marijuana mid-surgery | Circulating as a reaction GIF by 11 June 2015, the date of a widely referenced upload |
| Why are you running? | A Nigerian film generally identified as Pretty Liars 1. A woman flees a man in a car; he gets out and shouts the line | Posted to Vine by user sam iglesia on 23 July 2016, passing 1.7 million loops; later fused with the Ugandan Knuckles material in VRChat |
| Why you always lying | Nicholas Fraser, singing over Too Close by Next, a 1997 single | Fraser heard the song on Pandora on 28 August 2015 and sang the line; the Vine followed |
| Why is he lying? | A YouTube thumbnail from the channel New Rockstars showing Benedict Wong beside large yellow text | Thumbnail published 1 September 2022 for a She-Hulk predictions video; an inverted why is he telling the truth version appeared in June 2025 |
Only one of these was designed to be a meme, and it was not any of the images. Y Tho started as text. The phrase existed as typed slang for seven years before someone in December 2014 dropped it under a fifty-year-old Colombian oil painting, and the pairing worked because Botero’s Pope is already doing the expression — small features, enormous face, no discernible emotion, a portrait of dignified bafflement that predates the internet by decades.
The rest are accidents. A film cameo, a Nollywood chase scene, a man singing in a bathroom, a YouTube thumbnail written to farm clicks. In each case the source had no idea it was making anything.
What the why meme actually means
The word being asked and the question being asked are not the same. Almost every use of a why meme is rhetorical, and reading it as a genuine request for information is the standard mistake.
| Reading | What is meant | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Literal | A real request for a reason | Rare. Almost nobody uses an image macro to sincerely ask for an explanation |
| Ironic, the default | There is no good answer, and we both know it. The question is the verdict | Y Tho, but why, replies to a bad decision that has already been made |
| Mock disbelief | The action was so disproportionate that asking about it is the joke | Why are you running, used on anyone overreacting to nothing |
| Accusation | Not a question at all — a claim that the other person is inventing something | Why you always lying, why is he lying |
That is the useful distinction. Y Tho and but why are aimed at a choice. Why you always lying and why is he lying are aimed at a claim. Sending the wrong one changes the accusation, which is how these end up misfiring in group chats.
How people actually use it
Each format has a slot, and they are not interchangeable.
- Y Tho is the flat one. It is deployed under something someone has voluntarily done — a purchase, a haircut, a tattoo, a feature nobody requested. It carries no anger, which is what makes it worse.
- But why is the confused one. Reynolds is genuinely puzzled in the scene, so the GIF works when the poster wants to sound baffled rather than superior.
- Why are you running is used on disproportion, particularly on someone avoiding a conversation, a bill, or a fact they have already been shown.
- Why you always lying is used on repeat offenders, and its melodic form means it usually gets typed rather than posted as an image.
- Why is he lying is the newest and the most reply-shaped: it is placed directly under a specific quoted claim, and its 2025 inversion, why is he telling the truth, is used on statements that are blunt to the point of being uncomfortable.
If you landed here holding a specific picture and wanting its name rather than an overview of the family, that is a different job with a different method. Our guide on how to identify a meme you cannot name covers reverse image search, describing a layout instead of a punchline, and reading Know Your Meme entry statuses.
What we do not know
- There is no ranking. No public data shows which of these formats people mean when they search for the why meme. The list above is ordered by how well documented each origin is, not by popularity.
- Pretty Liars 1 is loosely dated. The film is generally placed around 2010 on the strength of a Nollywood forum post from March 2011. No authoritative release record was located, and even the exact title is reported inconsistently.
- Upload dates are not origin dates. The 11 June 2015 date attached to the but why GIF is when a widely cited copy was posted, not when the reaction first circulated. The clip is from 2004 and had eleven years to spread quietly first.
- The Botero attribution is to the painting, not the macro. Whoever first put y tho under that painting in December 2014 is unidentified, as is normal for Imgur-era image macros.
- New formats keep arriving. Why is he telling the truth appeared in June 2025 as a mirror of a 2022 format. Any list of why memes is a snapshot, and this one will need revisiting.
Frequently asked questions
What is the why meme?
There is no single one. Why is a reaction, not a format, so several unrelated images and clips share the label. The closest thing to a canonical still is Y Tho, an image macro built on a Fernando Botero painting of Pope Leo X.
Who is the fat pope in the y tho meme?
Pope Leo X, as painted by the Colombian artist Fernando Botero in 1964. The work is titled Pope Leo X (after Raphael) and reworks a Renaissance portrait in Botero signature inflated style. He is often called Baby Pope online.
Where is the why are you running meme from?
A Nigerian film usually identified as Pretty Liars 1. A woman runs from a man in a car, he gets out and shouts the line. Vine user sam iglesia posted the clip on 23 July 2016, where it passed 1.7 million loops.
What movie is the but why gif from?
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, released in 2004. Ryan Reynolds plays a nurse who pulls down his mask and asks but why after Kumar requests marijuana during surgery.
Who made the why you always lying meme?
Nicholas Fraser. He heard the 1997 song Too Close by Next on Pandora on 28 August 2015 and sang the line over its melody, then posted it to Vine.
Is there one single why meme?
No. Several unrelated formats are all called the why meme, so which one someone means depends on the image they saw. This page lists the main ones with the dates they appeared.
What does y tho mean?
Why though. It is a mocking rather than genuine question, used when someone has done something the poster considers pointless. Urban Dictionary carried a definition of it on 19 February 2007, years before any image was attached.
How do I find which why meme someone sent me?
Identify the image rather than the word. Crop the screenshot, reverse image search it, then search a description of the layout. Our guide to naming a meme you cannot place walks through the whole process.
Make a why meme
Load a blank canvas or your own image, add the caption, drag it where you want it, and download. Nothing is uploaded — the editor draws in your browser.
Drag any line on the image to move it.