For the past few days, people in Melbourne, Australia, have been paying their respects to the late, great Taylor Swift, who was bodied beyond recognition by Kim Kardashian West on Sunday. A large mural memorializing Swift popped up in a Melbourne alley over the weekend — sure, the mural technically says “Taylor Smith,” but we all know who most needs our mourning today.
The artist, known on Instagram as Lushsux, claims to have received a legal threat from Team Smith — I mean, Team Swift — and has returned to give the memorial a face-lift. Now, if you visit Hosier Lane, you won’t find a tribute to the woman who once tried to trademark the phrase “Nice to Meet You, Where You Been?” Instead, the memorial has been redesigned to honor Harambe, the lowland gorilla shot at the Cincinnati Zoo in May, who’s since become a meme trope on Twitter and Facebook.
“A cartoon gorilla face was painted over Swift’s in memory of ‘Harambe,’” the Daily Mail writes. Not … quite. A meme-trained eye should recognize the underbite and furrowed brow as Primitive Sponge, the spring’s hottest SpongeBob SquarePants meme. (If you haven’t met the porous meme yet, read our usage guide here.) Coincidentally, Primitive Sponge is also dead, a victim of the vicious internet meme cycle. A big RIP to all three.
