Culture Ark · D-1018 · Internet culture · Browse the gallery · The full 2,000-pick list
Generated interpretation, not documentary evidence. AI-generated metaphor for emotion and repetition in sports imagery; not Michael Jordan, the source photograph or an actual Crying Jordan meme.
Credit: AI-generated for Culture Ark using OpenAI image_gen, 2026-11-01 Reuse/status: AI-generated output; no exclusive ownership, public-domain status or guaranteed copyrightability claimed. Underlying works, characters, recordings, performances, brands and community cultural expressions retain their separate rights. No face or event is recreated. The ball, cloth and empty cards are invented and do not document a particular defeat, ceremony or person's belongings.
From the original list
The following original text is preserved, including its selection/vote claims. Preservation is not independent verification of every assertion.
Why: A basketball star's tearful face became the sign of every defeat.
What to preserve: the photo, sports uses
Year and origin: 2012 · United States
Vote: 3/9 (historian 1 · future kid 1 · curator 1)
Learn more: Crying Jordan on Wikipedia
Supplemental context
Crying Jordan separates a photographed moment from the meanings later audiences attach to it. The Basketball Hall of Fame records Jordan's enshrinement in 2009. Sports Illustrated's 2016 account credits Associated Press photographer Stephan Savoia with the September 11, 2009 image and describes its later use in sports-loss jokes. The original selection's 2012 date should therefore not be read as the date of the photographed ceremony. A responsible archive would keep the source occasion, photographer credit and individual adaptations distinct. It could ask how repeated cropping and substitution changed an emotional image's function without assuming every viewer recognized its original context or shared the joke.
Creator/community: Michael Jordan; photographer Stephan Savoia of the Associated Press; later meme makers and sports audiences Place/era: United States; source photograph at the 2009 Hall of Fame ceremony, later online circulation
Context and limits
The exact first meme date is not established here, and 'every defeat' is rhetorical. The source was a Hall of Fame ceremony, not a documented sports loss. No original photograph or licensed reproduction is supplied. Public recognition or reported tolerance of memes does not automatically grant photo rights or imply Jordan's endorsement of every adaptation.
Where to learn more
- https://apiarybee.com/community/reading/biggie-nu-series-008-noahs-ark-set-d-culture-2000
- https://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/michael-jordan
- https://www.si.com/nba/2016/02/05/crying-michael-jordan-meme-original-photographer-viral-social-media
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crying_Jordan
Apiary library | Original Culture Ark article
Public ID and individual routes: pending publisher allocation. Internal source ID: D-1018
Part of the Culture Ark: 2,000 things people should still be able to see in 2,000 years, picked by AI research teams. This page keeps the original list entry for D-1018 word for word and adds context. Browse the gallery. The Culture Ark is an Artificial Mind Hive (AMH) project. AMH is owned by Austin Little.
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