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Memes

What’s up with the Jackie Kennedy Eating Sheet Metal memes?

JACKIE WANT SHEET METAL!

Photo of Angela Andaloro

Angela Andaloro

Two panel image. On the left, a portrait of Jackie Kennedy, looking at the camera with a large smile. On the right, a man is super imposed onto a background of a zoo. He looks off to the right with a confused, frowning face. Caption reads ' POV: you made it to the Jackie Kennedy exhibit at the zoo.'

Jackie Kennedy Eating Sheet Metal memes and jokes about former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy have spread across social media in recent months, implying Kennedy is feral and ingested non-edible objects such as sheet metal. Dark humor has been injected into the beloved public figure’s legacy in recent years, and the memes surrounding her have gone viral for their absurdity.

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Meme basics:

  • Meme Creator: @y2kangell/X
  • Meme Type: Lore, Absurdist
  • First Appearance: June 2020
  • Origin Source: X
  • Peak Popularity: September 2022
jackie kennedy sheet metal google trends
Google Trends
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Why does TikTok think Jackie Kennedy ate sheet metal?

Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, later Jackie Onassis, was a beloved public figure inside and outside politics. She has long been considered a style icon and an example of a graceful and powerful woman. Perhaps because she’s been so revered for so long, Gen Z began to wonder across social media—why her?

Criticism of Jackie Kennedy began in June 2019, with discussions comparing her to then-First Lady Melania Trump. The conversation first began when Melania Trump redesigned Kennedy’s iconic rose garden, a tribute to her late husband, former president John F. Kennedy, after his assassination in 1963. Her husband, former President Donald Trump, then compared the two First Ladies in a 2021 interview with Fox & Friends, saying, “We have our own Jackie O today. It’s called Melania. Melania … we’ll call her Melania T! OK?”

Discourse coursed as social media users discussed the similarities and differences between the two women, and attacks on Jackie Kennedy’s legacy began.

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Meme spread

As the conversation on social media continued into the following year, the attacks became directed more at Kennedy’s appearance. In response to photos of her in her wedding dress, shared along with a history of the dress in June 2020, X user @y2kangell wrote, “This hammerhead shark is so damn ugly.”

In August 2020, X user @BhadDhad compared Kennedy to “Sid from Ice Age” in a viral tweet. Two months later, a since-deleted tweet went viral for showing “Jackie Kennedy ugly” in their previous searches.

jackie kennedy sid ice age tweet
@BhadDhad/X
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The jab brought attention to Kennedy’s teeth, which became the subject of further memes when, in November 2020, X user @usedwifi shared a tweet of a distorted image of Kennedy, exaggerating the size and number of teeth, along with the phrase “JACKIE WANT SHEET METAL.”

'jackie wants sheet metal' meme original
@BhadDhad/X

The phrase took off within the memes discussing Kennedy’s appearance, with some even criticizing JFK’s looks and implying he had a feral look about him as well.

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‘Jackie Kennedy eating sheet metal’ on TikTok

In 2022, Gen Z TikTokers became familiar with the Jackie Kennedy Sheet Metal memes. It wasn’t long until they began to make the joke their own. TikTokres paired images and videos of Kennedy with existing sounds on the platform, many of which mimic chewing or gnashing.

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One TikToker, @motheroftarot, paired animalistic chewing sounds with a wax figure of the late former First Lady.

jackie kennedy wax statue 'you know what she wants' tiktok
@motheroftarot/TikTok

Others went back and looked for photos of Kennedy where her teeth are caught at an awkward angle. The shots that feature a pronounced smile often zero in on the shape of her teeth.

'jackie kennedy sneaking off to the sheet metal section in home depot for some snackies' tiktok
@motheroftarot/TikTok
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jackie kennedy extraterrestrial
@gucciwithanm/TikTok
'pov: you made it to the jackie kennedy exhibit at the zoo'
@gucciwithanm/TikTok
'Jackie Kennedy when the pet chef gave her kibble instead of sheet metal'
@gucciwithanm/TikTok
jackie kennedy teeth coyote teeth tiktok
@spookycultoddities/TikTok
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jackie want sheet metal the shining
@spookycultoddities/TikTok
'the people of the house after watching jackie kennedy down her 6th piece of sheet metal before noon'
@spookycultoddities/TikTok

More absurdist memes:

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