Bradley Beal enjoys the Internet’s obsession with making him into memes

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Matt Weyrich
·3 min read
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Beal enjoys the Internet’s obsession with making him into memes originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

No one knows the power of the Internet meme community better than Bradley Beal.

The Wizards’ shooting guard has been the subject of social media jokes for the better part of the last two years, ever since a Nuggets fan told him he sucked on his way back to the locker room.

With his hands on his hips, Beal gave that fan a look that has since been spread across social media so much that it even made it into an NBA 2K trailer. As Beal has gained more attention for being one of the top scorers in the league, the memes have only grown more prevalent.

“It’s so funny because I don’t do them on purpose,” Beal said in an interview with NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller. “Some I do, some I do. But I don’t try to do the faces, you know the Internet is undefeated. So I just try to bring some fun and some light to it but I just try to be me. But my favorite? I don’t know, man, this last one was funny with me under the tarp…I got a kick out of it.”

On Monday, Beal was captured by TV cameras chasing a loose ball all the way under the bleachers during the Wizards’ 131-119 win over the Houston Rockets. It didn’t take long for the Internet to run with it.

However, there is one side of the memes that he feeds into: Crime Tape Beal, as Miller calls it. Whenever he takes a hard foul from an opponent, Beal will collapse onto the floor and stay there for just a few extra seconds to sway the referee into blowing the whistle.

“That’s my thing,” Beal said. “If I get clobbered, if I get fouled, get the white chalk…I sell it, you gotta sell it. I’m trying to get an Emmy out here, you gotta sell it. The refs won’t give it to you so it’s like, ‘Oh man, he took my soul away. Oh my God, I need a minute. I need to think about what happened.’”

The Wizards are on a three-game winning streak, so the meme creators haven’t had as much ammunition to work with. But as Beal said, the Internet is undefeated. They will be back.

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