The Brief: Memes edit an image of the character Sue Sylvester from Glee saying "I am going to create an environment that is so toxic" to present a wide variety of scenarios.

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In June 2020, Twitter users started making memes out of a screenshot from the 2009 episode of Glee titled “Throwdown” which features the character Coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) saying “I am going to create an environment that is so toxic.” Variations of these image macro memes edit the text and apply new contexts to show different people making both similar and completely unrelated announcements.

In late November 2020, these memes had a resurgence, where the image and quote were removed even farther from their original context. Many of these memes blackout all of the text except for “I am going to” or even all but the “I.”

Sue Sylvester ‘I Am’ Memes

Variations of these memes include references to song lyrics and titles:

This version includes a long, dark rant:

Other renditions apply the original Sue Sylvester line “I am going to create…” to a wide variety of unrelated scenarios and contexts.

Due to the widespread popularity of this meme format, the meme mutated in ways that require someone to recognize the original in order to understand the meme.

Some memes are so far removed from the original context that they include neither Sue Sylvester nor her line from Glee, like this “Hello I’m Shelley Duvall” reference: