Harambe, the internet meme that refuses to leave anyone in peace.
How did one dead gorilla capture the collective imagination and dominate social media all summer? The immediate reaction to Harambe’s death was outrage directed both at the child’s mother and the zoo: She was negligent, they were heartless. What would have been a minor local tragedy before social media suddenly became international news. And somewhere in there—a combination of the circumstances, the name, and a healthy amount of anthropomorphism—Harambe became a symbol to many. Instead of fading away after a few news cycles, the gorilla only grew in stature following his demise, like an obscure songwriter unappreciated in his own time. Harambe lived on in his new life as virtual surrogate for all the loss and horror of the year.
At the Cincinnati Zoo, his loss was felt keenly. But there’s no stopping the cycle of life. Many new additions were welcomed: two giraffes, an Andean condor, and a litter of cheetah cubs were born this year. And while the sincere outrage seemed to dissipate after the first week of June, the internet was not going to let Harambe rest in peace. Ironic jokes became real-life pranks and outright harassment. By summer’s end, Harambe-jokers would drive the zoo to cut off its social media accounts and make director Thane Maynard publicly plead for an end to the memes. If Harambe momentarily “broke the internet,” then the internet nearly broke the zoo.