"Gay rat wedding" memes are standing up for Arthur in the funniest way

23 May 2019, 17:31

By Sam Prance

Mr. Ratburn from Arthur has inspired the new "gay rat wedding" meme...

"Gay rat wedding" memes are breaking the internet and it's all because of Mr. Ratburn on Arthur.

Arthur’s Mr Ratburn just came out with a gay wedding and the internet is living for it

Memes can be inspired by anything but the best ones tend to be the wildest ones. Sometimes all they need is a bizarre, viral video to kickstart them (the "they did surgery on a grape" meme). Elsewhere it's a very specific TV scene and a whole lot of imagination that does it (the powerful Shaggy meme). Often it's just the internet being left to its own devices (the 'Roman Holiday' meme). Well, the "gay rat wedding" meme is a mixture of all three of these and it's iconic.

The funniest gay rat wedding memes inspired by Arthur

Last week Arthur made history. In its season 22 debut, one of its longterm principal characters came out. In the episode, Mr. Ratburn got married to another male character with Arthur, Buster, Muffy, Francine and Binky smiling on and supporting him in the congregation. Naturally, it wasn't long before social media caught on and people quickly began praising the beloved children's show for its LGBTQ+ representation.

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However, this week Alabama Public Television revealed that they have refused to air the episode saying: "Our feeling is that we basically have a trust with parents about our programming. This program doesn't fit into that." In other words, they are either homophobic or scared of upsetting homophobic parents. Since the announcement, multiple people including Lili Reinhart have called out the network.

The backlash was so huge that it quickly became a Twitter moment titled: "Alabama network refused to broadcast Arthur's gay rat wedding". Amazing. Naturally, it didn't take long before the phrase "gay rat wedding" became a new meme. Some of the memes focus on calling out homophobia, while others are based on how funny the term "gay rat wedding" is, and then there are those which are a bit of both.

What does a gay rat wedding actually look like?

This is so beautiful. I'm crying.

They are actually pretty easy to spot.

Why is this so cute?

Mike Pence has made his way into "gay rat wedding" chat.

I...

Gay rat weddings vary all around the world.

The international implications this has.

Paddington Bear is a true ally.

We stan.

There's a gay rat wedding song.

Tyga actually stole this from the gay rats.

Gay rat discourse is important.

If your queer theory doesn't include gay rat theory, you can keep it.

Ultimately people are happy to see "gay rat wedding" trending.

Wow. What a moment.

Pride is going to be a little bit different this year.

Imagine the costumes.

Although one thing needs to be cleared up.

Mr. Ratburn's partner appears to be an aardvark like Arthur so adjust your spreadsheets accordingly.

Would you attend a gay rat wedding?