Enjoy the 2018 calendar in gaffes and memes:
January in Sh*thole
President Donald Trump’s reported remark about immigrants coming to the United States from “sh*thole countries” spurred thousands of memes, with Merriam-Webster Dictionary tweeting that the word was on the trending list:
February: Fire and Furry
UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s cat Larry had a furreal rendezvous with Palmerston, a cat from the Foreign Office headed by Boris Johnson at the time. The two mousers engaged in a dramatic battle, with a British correspondent suggesting that Larry lost the fight.
March: Hillary Clinton Takes Nasty Spill
During her trip to India, Hillary Clinton was caught on camera slipping and sliding on the stairs twice before eventually ditching her sandals to make it through the rest of her bumpy path.
April: Mark Cyborgberg
No matter how grave Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress on the Cambridge Analytica case might seem, social media users were left in tears of laughter, wondering if he was human and ridiculing what they called a booster seat.
May: Be Best… Like Melania Trump
The US First Lady introduced her Be Best initiative to counter cyber bullying, and while the idea was for a noble cause, the choice of its name became a subject of controversy on social media. Netizens pointed to the grammatical structure of the phrase, suggesting that it would sound right if Melania Trump opted for “Be the Best”, “Be Better” or “Be Your Best”.
June: Maradona Rules the Meme World
Legendary footballer Diego Maradona rocked the World Cup in Russia, going down in history as the most ardent supporter of the Argentine national team. He showed a full spectre of reactions – from hilariously dancing and cheering to desperately swearing on camera and flicking the birdie – and made netizens engender tonnes of epic memes.
July: Angela Merkel and Naughty Bears
German Chancellor Angela Merkel unwittingly found herself in an awkward situation after being photographed in a Cologne kindergarten… with a pair of teddy bears in a somewhat sexually explicit pose.
August: Theresa May Loses Herself to Dance
Theresa May showed the world she got the moves and danced twice during her three-day trip to South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, having showed off uniquely angular, robot-style skills, which inevitably became meme fodder.
September: Bill Clinton Can’t Take His Eyes Off of Ariana Grande
Former US President Bill Clinton looked mesmerised while watching Ariana Grande, who wore a little black dress and high heels, outstandingly perform at Aretha Franklin’s memorial service. Unsurprisingly, his facial expression became a walking meme on social media.
October: When Khabib Met Conor
The much-hyped bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor in early October was immortalised by a Turkish graffiti artist, who depicted the moment of the Russian undefeated fighter choking out his Irish rival.
November: High Fives All the Way
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman found the most epic way to greet each other at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, exchanging a spectacular high-five.
December: Messy Hair Don’t Care – Juncker
December was marked by a now-viral video featuring touchy-feely-kissy Jean-Claude Juncker playfully messing up a female official’s hair, visibly leaving her confused and a bit embarrassed.