The Brief: Dank Memes is the name of a popular meme subreddit.
DEEP DIVE
A dank meme is a particularly funny meme. The Dank Memes subreddit, dedicated to such memes, has over 1.7 million followers. This forum is the birthplace of such memes as Lemon Car memes, 2019 Medieval memes, and “the queen will die on January 5th” conspiracy theory. It has also been responsible for the viral proliferation of many other memes including “those bastards lied to me,” Robbie Rotten, Sportacus, and “it ain’t much but it’s honest work.”
Dank memes dubs itself as simply “A Place to Post the Dankest Memes” where no normies are allowed. The avatar of this community is a gnome wearing a pointed green hat, a reference to the video game Runescape.
Community guidelines prohibit hate speech, threats, and other similar behavior, but the Dank Memes subreddit is known for its humor that relies on shock-value and being intentionally offensive. Although most memes on Dank Memes are not directly racist, homophobic, sexist, etc., these tropes can be found easily, often more deeply embedded in the memes, such as the racist undertones in the Ugandan Knuckles meme or the nonsensical but clearly homophobic “mods r gay” running joke.
Some other meme subreddits have similar names, including memes_of_the_dank, which is usually darker and more offensive than Dank Memes.