The Super Bowl isn't just a football game anymore. Honestly, for half the people watching on February 9, 2025, at the Caesars Superdome, the actual score was secondary to whatever was happening on Twitter—or X, or whatever we’re calling it this week. Super Bowl 59 memes started flooding the feed before the national anthem even finished, and by the time Kendrick Lamar took the stage for the Apple Music Halftime Show, the internet had basically lost its collective mind. New Orleans has this specific, chaotic energy that translates perfectly into viral content. It’s loud. It’s bright. It’s slightly unhinged.
You’ve seen it before. A player makes a weird face on the sidelines and suddenly he's the face of every "me when the rent is due" post for the next six months. But Super Bowl 59 felt different because the stakes weren't just about the Lombardi Trophy; they were about the cultural tug-of-war happening in the background.
The Kendrick Lamar Effect and the Drake Ghost
We have to talk about the elephant in the room. The moment Kendrick Lamar was announced as the halftime performer, the meme machine started idling. Everyone expected a victory lap. When he actually stepped out in the Superdome, the Super Bowl 59 memes didn't disappoint. Most of them focused on the sheer "pettiness" of the performance. People were literally counting how many times he referenced his 2024 beef with Drake without actually saying his name.
The most viral image? A side-by-side of Kendrick’s stoic face during the show versus a photoshopped image of Drake watching from a dimly lit room in Toronto. It wasn't just about the music. It was about the narrative. One specific tweet that got over 200,000 likes just said, "Kendrick really used the NFL's budget to host a 15-minute funeral." That’s the kind of hyper-niche, high-impact humor that defines modern sports fandom.
Why the "Certified Lover Boy" jokes wouldn't die
Even though Drake wasn't there, he was there. You know? Every time Kendrick hit a specific lyric, the camera would pan to a celebrity in the stands who looked slightly uncomfortable, and the internet immediately claimed they were "Team OVO." It’s a reach, sure, but reaching is what makes a meme work. The visual contrast between the high-energy New Orleans jazz influences Kendrick brought out and the cold, surgical precision of his diss tracks created this weird, hilarious cognitive dissonance.
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The "NOLA Chaos" Aesthetic
New Orleans is a character in itself. Super Bowl 59 memes leaned heavily into the city's reputation for being a bit... wild. We saw memes about the humidity ruining players' hair, memes about the Bourbon Street "smell" hitting the visiting fans, and of course, the food.
One of the biggest non-game moments involved a shot of a fan trying to eat a massive po'boy while wearing a $400 jersey. He dropped a glob of remoulade sauce right on the logo. Within four minutes, he was "Remoulade Man." He became the personification of every fan who spent their life savings to be there only to realize that New Orleans doesn't care about your expensive clothes.
Ad Fatigue and the Return of "Cringe"
Let's be real. Super Bowl commercials have been hit-or-miss for a decade. This year, the Super Bowl 59 memes turned their weapons toward the over-produced, celebrity-stuffed ads that felt like they were trying too hard. There was one specific crypto-adjacent ad (yeah, they're still trying) that featured a talking CGI squirrel. It was meant to be cute. It was horrifying.
The internet reacted with the speed of a thousand suns. "The squirrel is going to be in my nightmares," was a common sentiment, but the better memes were the ones comparing the squirrel's dead eyes to the look on the losing quarterback's face in the fourth quarter. It’s that intersection of corporate failure and sporting heartbreak where the best internet culture lives.
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The "Wait, Who Is That?" Celebrity Cameos
Every year, the NFL tries to pan to celebrities to show how "cool" the event is. This year, they caught a veteran actor who looked like he had absolutely no idea what sport was being played. His confused expression became the universal symbol for "me in a meeting that could have been an email."
The Game Itself: Ref Logic and Turf Woes
You can't have a Super Bowl without complaining about the officiating. It’s a legal requirement. The Super Bowl 59 memes regarding the refs were particularly spicy because of a controversial holding call late in the third quarter.
Imagine a blurry photo of a referee looking through a telescope but still missing a planet right in front of him. That was the vibe.
Then there was the turf. The Superdome is legendary, but players were slipping in the first half like they were on a Mario Kart track. This led to a wave of "Ice Capades" memes. People were editing figure skating music over slow-motion replays of wide receivers wiping out. It’s funny until it’s your team losing a touchdown because of a literal slip-up, but for the neutral observer, it’s gold.
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How to Track These Memes Without Losing Your Mind
If you're trying to find the "definitive" list of what went viral, you're looking in the wrong place. Memes are ephemeral. They peak at 9:45 PM EST and they're "cheugy" by Tuesday morning. But if you want to see the remnants of what made Super Bowl 59 memes special, you have to look at the niche communities.
- Look at the "Alt" accounts: Not the big brand accounts like Oreo or Slim Jim. Look at the team-specific fan accounts that are hurting. That’s where the raw, unfiltered humor is.
- Check the "Meme Templates": Look for the blank versions of the photos that started circulating. The "Kendrick pointing at the crowd" template is already being used to describe everything from grocery shopping to political debates.
- TikTok Sound Bites: A lot of the humor wasn't visual this year; it was audio. Specific commentary gaffes or hot mics from the sidelines were turned into "sounds" that people are now using to soundtrack their own daily failures.
Why We Care (And Why It Matters)
It sounds silly to analyze pictures with impact font, but these memes are the new water cooler. In 1995, we talked about the commercials at work on Monday. In 2025, we’re sharing the memes in the group chat in real-time. Super Bowl 59 memes served as a social lubricant for an event that is increasingly becoming too big and too corporate for its own good. They ground the spectacle. They remind us that even though these athletes are millionaires and the halftime performers are icons, we can still make fun of them from our couches.
The "humanity" of the game is found in the mistakes. The missed catches, the weird outfits, the confused celebrities—these are the things that make the Super Bowl a shared experience. Without the memes, it’s just a business transaction between brands and broadcasters. With them, it’s a giant, global inside joke.
Practical Steps for the Post-Game Hangover
Don't let the best content disappear into the void of your "Saved" folder. If you're looking to actually use or archive these for your own social media or just for a laugh later, here is how you handle the aftermath:
- Screen Record the "Stories": Many of the best memes happen on Instagram or Snapchat stories from people actually at the stadium. These disappear in 24 hours. If you see a "behind the scenes" moment that looks like meme-bait, grab it early.
- Follow the Creators, Not the Aggregators: Accounts like FatKidDeals or SportsCenter just repost what’s already popular. Find the original creators on X or TikTok who have 5,000 followers and a weird sense of humor. They are the ones who actually invent the trends.
- Check the "International" Reaction: Sometimes the funniest Super Bowl 59 memes come from people in the UK or Australia who are watching the game for the first time and have no idea what’s happening. Their confusion is a goldmine.
- Clean Up Your Feed: By Wednesday, the memes will be dead. Unfollow the "Super Bowl Updates" accounts you followed in a frenzy on Sunday so your feed can go back to normal.
The cycle will repeat next year, but for now, New Orleans gave us plenty to work with. Whether it was Kendrick’s stage presence or a guy losing his lunch over a railing, the internet did what it does best: it made it weird. And honestly? That's the only reason many of us keep tuning in.
Actionable Insight: If you're a content creator or a brand, do not try to "re-use" these memes more than three days after the game. The "expiration date" on Super Bowl humor is incredibly short. Instead, analyze why a specific image went viral—usually because it captured a genuine, unscripted human emotion—and look for those same qualities in your future content. Speed is the only currency that matters in the meme economy.