The Brief: A man's discovery of shrimp tails in his box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal was just the beginning of a gripping saga that continues to unfold on Twitter, with many memes remarking on the absurdity of the situation.

DEEP DIVE
Cinnamon Toast Crunch shrimp memes reference writer and comedian Jensen Karp’s discovery of what appeared to be shrimp tails, animal droppings, and dental floss in a bag of cereal, which he posted about extensively on Twitter. And yes, he ate a bowl of the cereal before noticing the shrimp tails.
This strange series of events began on March 22, when Karp posted a photo of what appear to be cinnamon and sugar-coated shrimp tails that came from a box of CTC.
Ummmm @CTCSquares – why are there shrimp tails in my cereal? (This is not a bit) pic.twitter.com/tTjiAdrnVp
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 22, 2021
The events following included Karp discovering what look like rat droppings baked into cinnamon squares, along with string and dental floss. The CTC Twitter account responded in several tweets and replies, declaring that the shrimp tails were actually “an accumulation” of cinnamon and sugar. They later tweeted that the contamination didn’t occur at their facility.
this gaslighting by the cinnamon toast crunch corporation is a national scandal. https://t.co/9EVSpjAzs4
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) March 23, 2021
Karp is reportedly taking the cereal to a lab for investigation. One of the leading crowdsourced theories about how the cereal ended up this way is that a rodent nest, which included the droppings, shrimp tails, and string, was cooked into the batch of CTC. The story continues to unfold as Karp documents it on Twitter.
This whole saga as well as the most logical explanation — that a rat probably made a home in the dry cereal ingredients and all its scavenged items made it into the Cinnamon Toast Crunch — is just a hot, screaming nightmare https://t.co/EydLmQ8RxM
— Kristin Chirico (@lolacoaster) March 23, 2021
Cinnamon Toast Crunch shrimp memes remark on the absurdity of this situation and react to the ickiness of finding shrimp tails and animal droppings in a box of cereal. On March 23, the topic “Cinnamon Toast Crunch” was trending on Twitter in the United States.
“To save their company, Cinnamon Toast Crunch needs to make cereal classy again, and what’s classier than shrimp?” pic.twitter.com/pXs2RgZh5c
— Elyza Halpern (@elyzawithawhy) March 23, 2021
why did it have to be cinnamon toast crunch pic.twitter.com/eElsxpEUAK
— Greta (@gretathegr8) March 23, 2021
New Cinnamon Toast Crunch Oreo just dropped pic.twitter.com/0anluYL4JM
— King Julien’s Waifu (@Gardenboy15) March 23, 2021
— Bobby Hundreds (@bobbyhundreds) March 23, 2021
started my new job today as social media manager for cinnamon toast crunch! time to take a big sip of coffee and log on
— amy b (@arb) March 23, 2021
just checking pic.twitter.com/oJi7LZQhHD
— 𝖆.𝖆. 𝖉𝖊 𝖑𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖊 (@soalexgoes) March 23, 2021
"They've been acting fishy for years at Cinnamon Toast Crunch headquarters, hopefully now our voices are heard." pic.twitter.com/oEbjyzeOgV
— Bench Day Dre (@BenchDayDre) March 23, 2021
Krispy Kreme is giving out free donuts to anybody who’s gotten vaccinated.
Not to be outdone, Cinnamon Toast Crunch is giving out free shrimp tails.
— Alex Pawlowski (@AlexSourGraps) March 23, 2021
i made this by myself. why did it have to be Cinnamon Toast Crunch tho pic.twitter.com/oyLTInklwc
— gav (@gavin_briseno) March 23, 2021
the shrimp at the cereal factory waiting to be packaged with the cinnamon toast crunch pic.twitter.com/unUL7IJpjt
— rei (@txunderei) March 23, 2021