‘Crying Jordan’ photographer had no idea it existed until this week

The photographer who captured what is now famously referred to as the “Crying Jordan” shot had no idea the meme even existed until this week. Stephan Savoia is his name.

According to Sara Germano of the Wall Street Journal, 62-year old Associated Press photographer Savoia and his colleagues won Pulitzer prizes for their work covering the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinski scandal in 1992.

But perhaps his most famous piece of work was unknown to him before going through emails this week after recovering from ankle surgery.

For those who might be uninitiated into the whole “Crying Jordan” phenomenon, here are a couple examples:

For his part, Savoia isn’t upset about having his work used in this way. Quite the opposite:

“I just did some Google searches after I read your email and have not been able to stop laughing,” he wrote to Germano in an email.

It’s pretty amusing that the man responsible for capturing one of the most recognizable pictures on social media had no idea it existed until now.

That said, isn’t it about time to retire this tired meme?