The Brief: Memes are poking fun at parents who paid bribes to get their children into elite universities including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.

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In March 2019, Lori Loughlin and Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman were among affluent figures who were found to have paid large sums in bribes so their children could attend prestigious universities. Users online quickly made memes mocking the outlandish situation, with many referencing Loughlin’s role as Aunt Becky in the beloved sitcom Full House and the revival Fuller House. Tweets also mentioned Olivia Jade, Loughlin’s oldest daughter, who is a popular lifestyle YouTuber and influencer.

COLLEGE CHEATING SCANDAL MEMES

Full House Tweets:

Michelle, the baby of the Tanner family on Full House, is on her way to break Aunt Becky out, no matter the cost.

Olivia Jade Tweets:

Loughlin and her husband, designer Mossimo Giannulli, paid $500,000 for her two daughters to be admitted to the University of Southern California as recruits to the crew team. Twitter took no time before finding a past video Olivia Jade posted to YouTube, in which she admitted she cared more about college tailgates and partying than attending classes. The memes naturally followed.

Desperate Housewives/Felicity Huffman Tweets:

Many people also pointed out that Huffman’s 2016 tweet, asking for advice ahead of the new school year, did not age well in retrospect.

Tweets about privilege:

On a more serious note, Twitter users like Clint Smith III noted that the college admission scam is representative of how wealth and race factor into an individual’s success, and that low-income and black and brown students face higher obstacles when applying to these prestigious schools.

Hopefully in the future, more rich people will get held accountable for manipulating the education system. For now, at least increased dialogue about the matter has been opened, and we can be thankful that we can milk the Aunt-Becky-In-Prison memes as long as it can last us.