10 viral moments you forgot happened this year

The Big Lebowski‘s V.I. Lenin once said, “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” In 2022, decades just kept happening. The pandemic, elections, wars, it’s all just warped our sense of time. So much so that it’s tough to keep track of what happened in any given year.

That’s why we thought we’d do you the service of collecting some of the best, weirdest, and most memorable internet moments that you likely forgot happened this year. Because who knows, that event that feels like it happened decades ago is just a few months old. Months.

1. Elmo vs. Rocco

Remember when the beloved Sesame Street character went viral for his feud with a pet rock? This year.

Your’s truly wrote about the feud on January 5, 2022. That is this year, pal. It started with this clip that went super viral.

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It was the feud of the month, even appearing on Saturday Night Live.

2. The school folder debate

Sometimes, the internet stumbles upon a weird thing to get angry about. Actually, come to think of it, that’s most of what the internet does. Back in August, all the internet could talk about was which color folder coincides with which subject in school. It feels like forever ago, but it was just this summer.

By the way, the only correct answer:

• Yellow – history

• Red – math

• Green – science

• Blue – English

3. NyQuil chicken

People briefly got mad online about people cooking chicken in NyQuil and guess what? Nobody was actually doing it, just like every other DAnGeRoUs online challenge.

4. Euphoria finale memes

That’s right, Euphoria wrapped up its second season in February of this year. The finale sparked countless memes and viral moments.

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There is simply no way my brain can register that all happened this year. But I have never been happier.

5. Uncut Jaaaahmz 

Remember that time actress Julia Fox said, “I mean, I was Josh Safdie’s muse when he wrote Uncut Gems.” Seems like a normal thing to say, right? But the internet really lost it over the way Fox pronounced it like jaaaaahmz. That viral moment was first posted in February. And, oh, at the time she was dating Ye, which also happened this year.

6. Will Smith slapped Chris Rock

OK, maybe I’m an idiot here, since the infamous slap was obviously this year’s Oscars. But doesn’t The Slap feel like forever ago? All the jokes and memes are so played out by now. It happened in March.

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7. The Barbie pictures

Remember when everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at Ryan Gosling dressed up as a Ken Doll? That was June. Here he is, in all his bleached-blond glory.

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The movie comes out next year, by the way.

8. People used Google to troll and inform Russia

Russia invaded Ukraine in February of this year. Soon after, people began using Google reviews to write about the invasion. They wrote about the crisis in Ukraine in a review of a coffeeshop in Moscow, for instance.

9.The Don’t Worry Darling spitcident

In September, the drama, spit, and mess of the film Don’t Worry Darling took over the internet. Everyone, and we mean everyone, was talking about how maybe Harry Styles…spit…on Chris Pine at a film festival? And how Styles and Olivia Wilde might’ve been together before they confirmed their relationship. And how Florence Pugh was maybe feuding with Wilde. And so on an so forth.

10. West Elm Caleb

And finally, remember that guy who went super viral on TikTok for charming then ghosting countless women on dating apps? That saga went down in January.