McKayla Maroney and Barack Obama are so not impressed
TIME is not impressed.
O.K., just kidding, we’re actually really impressed by this picture-perfect moment, not to mention the President’s apparent knowledge of Internet memes.
The 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics team stopped by the White House on Thursday for a meet and greet with President Obama. But before the team (also known as the Fierce Five) left, Obama pulled aside McKayla Maroney, who placed second on vault this summer, to discuss “the face.”
(VIDEO: Meet the U.S. Team’s Only Rhythmic Gymnast)
The face, of course, refers to the scrunched-up scowl the 16-year-old sported after learning she’d earned the silver medal in the individual vault final at the 2012 Olympics. The image soon went viral, spreading rapidly across the Internet and spurring a meme known as “McKayla Maroney is not impressed.”
Apparently Maroney finds the whole thing funny — and she seems to be comfortable with the attention generated from that one facial expression. In October, for example, she tweeted, “To all the people who are being me for Halloween, and sending me pictures of your “Not Impressed face”.. You.are.awesome!!!(;”
And it seems the now iconic scowl has resonated with President Obama too. “I want to talk to you one second about the face,” he told Maroney during the team’s visit. “I pretty much do that face at least once a day.”
When the gymnast heard that, she “freaked out,” she told the Associated Press. And then it happened. They stood side by side, arms crossed, lips pursed — in other words, not impressed. The White House tweeted the photo early Saturday morning and boom — it began spreading across the Internet, breathing new life into an otherwise outdated meme.
And if getting the leader of the free world to mimic a meme can’t revitalize it, we have no idea what else can.