Memes Rule Everything Around Me: CJ's "Here We Go Again," The "Tough Guy" Entrance, 'Game Of Thrones' & More

Source: HBO

Another month, another Memes Rule Everything Around Me.

Ah, April. The month gave us plenty of memes that provided us with some much-needed comic relief. But there were some that stood above the rest and one that particularly stared into the pits of our souls.

Yes, we're talking about the one and only "tough guy" entrance meme, in which 32-year-old Jawah Bendaoud enters a courtroom and proceeds to stare intensely throughout the room, his eyes shifting quickly but never losing their intensity.

Turns out that Bendaoud was leaving — not entering — court after he was convicted of harboring terrorists Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Hasna Aitboulahcen, who allegedly took part in the 2015 Paris attacks. Bendaoud was sentenced to four years in prison in March 2019. He had first been acquitted of the charges in his first trial in February 2018 related to the two terrorists after the judge said there was insufficient evidence that could prove he knew the attackers were terrorists, according to Buzzfeed News.

Prosecutors appealed the decision immediately and a second trial took place in March, where he was found guilty.

As BuzzFeed noted, the "tough guy" entrance meme wasn't the first time Bendaoud was at the focus of a viral meme. Bendaoud was speaking to a journalist for a video interview on a street near his flat where the terrorists were being hosted when he was apprehended by police.

"They asked me to help them, I helped," he said before being arrested. "They told me to put up two people for three nights and I helped. I don't know where they came from. If I knew, you believe that I would have put them up?"

French people then turned the clip into a meme, using a still image from the video and making up their own captions for it.

"I admit I heard they were talking about dropping something heavy, but I thought it was a mixtape," the caption translates to.

But it was Bendaoud's tough guy entrance that led to him being arguably the most recognized and used meme of April, which was created by Twitter user @MohamedJellit, according to BuzzFeed News. (The account has been suspended.)

Speaking with BuzzFeed Mohamed said, "Yes, I knew that this man was in a court for a terrorist offense but that's all, I have no opinion about him."

Following Bendaoud is this meme referencing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' Carl "CJ" Johnson, in which he's seen walking toward something while saying "Ah shit, here we go again."

The clip follows the opening cutscene of San Andreas where CJ is picked up by police officers Frank Tenpenny, Eddie Pulaski, and Jimmy Hernandez, who leave him stranded in a neighborhood called Jefferson, which happens to be where the Rollin Heights Ballas gang resides. In response to it all CJ then says, "Ah shit, here we go again. Worst place in the world. Rollin Heights Balla country. I ain't represented Grove Street in five years, but the Ballas won't give a shit."

Now, that scene has resurfaced as a meme on social media. According to Know Your Meme, the memes began as just a still image of the scene where CJ says "Ah shit, here we go again," accompanied by a caption made by someone or an image of someone photoshopped into the San Andreas still.

From there, Twitter user @ChaoticGeekCG created a green screen video edit of the scene, bringing the image to life and foreshadowing the clip's ubiquity on social media.

The meme was initially used as a reference to other video games and anime series.

However, it has since gone on to reference other pop culture and non-pop culture topics too.

Someone even did a real-life recreation of the scene.

In the realm of sports, Portland Trail Blazers guard Dame Lillard became the source of a popular meme following his successful three-point shot during a recent playoff game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The shot solidified Portland's win against Oklahoma with the game's score being 118-115. But Lillard remained calm and composed even as his teammates celebrated the win and his shot, a TV camera capturing a cold stare from the player that became a meme.

And lastly, it wouldn't be an April roundup of popular memes without acknowledging Game of Thrones, specifically this meme of Daenerys Targaryen.

The image comes from Thrones' second episode from season eight, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," where Daenerys flashes a squint smile at Sansa Stark after making a joke about Jon Snow's height.

Although these were the top ones, we've also included some honorable mentions below.

Kenny Beats' "Whoa, Kenny!" meets Kenny G

Fake Playboi Carti "Kid Cudi" snippet

Michael B. Jordan as The Joker