Murder Hornet Invasion

Submission 18,193

About

The Murder Hornet Invasion refers to a series of jokes made following a May 2020 New York Times article about the discovery of Asian Giant Hornet, known colloquially as "Murder Hornets," in the United States. The report came amid the coronavirus, inspiring a series of memes about overwhelming catastrophic events in rapid succession (similar to April 2020 Disaster Predictions). The world's largest hornets, the Asian Giant Hornet kills roughly 50 people annually.

Origin

On May 2nd, 2020, the New York Times^[1] published the article "‘Murder Hornets’ in the U.S.: The Rush to Stop the Asian Giant Hornet." The article explains that a number of these hornets were discovered in the United States, threatening the native bee population (screenshot below). They write:

With queens that can grow to two inches long, Asian giant hornets can use mandibles shaped like spiked shark fins to wipe out a honeybee hive in a matter of hours, decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young. For larger targets, the hornet’s potent venom and stinger -- long enough to puncture a beekeeping suit -- make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin.

In Japan, the hornets kill up to 50 people a year. Now, for the first time, they have arrived in the United States.

[…]

Scientists have since embarked on a full-scale hunt for the hornets, worried that the invaders could decimate bee populations in the United States and establish such a deep presence that all hope for eradication could be lost.

Precursor

Murder Hornets had been featured online in various capacities before the "Invasion" memes. For example, on November 25th, 2018, Coyote Peterson posted a video about being stung by one on the Brave Wilderness YouTube channel. The post received more than 7.4 million views in less than two years (shown below).

Spread

That morning, Mike Baker, the author of the article, tweeted ^[2] a link to his piece and wrote, "A new threat reaches the United States: A massive hornet with mandibles that rip bees to shreds and a stinger so potent that one unfortunate victim likened it to "having red-hot thumbtacks being driven into my flesh." The tweet received more than 24,000 likes and 12,000 retweets in less than two days (shown below, left).

People began sharing the article and making jokes about the hornets. For example, writer Scott Wampler tweeted,^[3] "lmao God is just straight-up done with our bullshit." The tweet received more than 19,000 likes and 5,600 retweets in less than two days (shown below, center). The following day, Instagram ^[4] account @grapejuiceboys posted a Don Draper Life Cereal Pitch Parody on the subject, receiving more than 48,000 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

On May 2nd, Twitter user @LeahCsMovies posted an Anthony "Spice" Adam laughing meme with the caption "Everyone: What else could possibly happen in May?" The post received more than 833,000 views, 43,000 likes and 14,000 retweets in less than two days (shown below).

On May 3rd, Redditor ^[9] wilymon shared a photograph of hornets in the palm of a hand. The post received more than 55,000 points (91% upvoted) and 4,900 comments in less than 24 hours (shown below). News about the hornets also received more than 15,000 points in the /r/Wellthatsucks^[10] and /r/natureismetal subreddits.^[11]
Several media outlets reported on the meme, including The Daily Dot, ^[5] Buzzfeed, ^[6] Distractify,^[7] Mashable ^[8] and more.