Scumbag Steve Meme

What does the Scumbag Steve meme mean?\n\nScumbag Steve is shorthand for the friend who is reliably, creatively selfish — the guy who borrows your charger and keeps it. Two lines of text over his smug, dazed stare tell a complete story of low-grade betrayal. Captioning it is a way to name that one person (or that one instinct) without naming names.\n\n## Origin\n\n- 2006: Susan Boston photographs her 16-year-old son Blake in the doorway of their Millis, Massachusetts home — a promo shot for his rap hobby — and posts it to his MySpace. He thinks he looks like a baller.\n- January 20, 2011: Macros built on the photo hit Reddit's r/funny and spread to 4chan, 9gag and beyond. The image reads as the quintessential \"that guy\" and the Scumbag Steve character crystallizes instantly.\n- 2011: Boston initially rages (his angry quotes get used as captions too), then embraces it — rap single, appearances, years of interviews.\n- 2021: The meme sells as an NFT for roughly $57,000, funding renewed attention to the man behind the cap.\n\n## Examples\n\n- \"Hears you're sick / Steals your last tissue\"\n- \"Says 'we should hang out' / Never replies again\"\n- The moral counterpart memes: Good Guy Greg does the right thing; Steve does the other thing.\n\n## Translation\n\n- Literal reading: a teenager in a sideways cap and fur-collared coat with two lines of text.\n- Actual meaning: \"this is what betrayal by an ordinary friend looks like — petty and constant.\"\n- Cross-language note: local slang for \"that one bad friend\" gets swapped into captions, but the photo itself travels unchanged.\n\n## FAQ\n\nWho is Scumbag Steve?\nBlake Boston, whose mother's 2006 MySpace photo of him at 16 became a meme in 2011.\n\nWhy \"Steve\"?\nNobody knew his real name when it went viral — the name was invented by whoever made the first macros. (His dad is actually Steve.)\n\nHow did he react?\nAnger at first — his furious replies became captions too — then acceptance, appearances and eventually an NFT sale.\n