Leonardo DiCaprio is an icon — that’s a fact.
His contribution to the world of film is unbeatable. Thanks to Leo, we’re still sobbing over Jack Dawson, scared of Calvin Candie and hoping to party with Jay Gatsby, 1920s style. With a long list of notable films, almost everyone has heard of Leo. And because of his outstanding contribution to entertainment, it’s almost impossible to escape the pop culture jokes — specifically memes.
Think about it: there’s always a Leonardo DiCaprio meme for everything.
The Internet is obsessed with Leo memes. From the popular Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme to the Leo memes from his film Django Unchanged, you’re bound to come across one if you’re always scrolling the Internet.
Why Are Leonardo DiCaprio Memes So Popular?
The Oscar actor is known for being a serious and thoughtful guy when it came to his intense movie roles and activism. So, why do people keep using him for humorous memes?
There’s something relatable with photos of DiCaprio. Remember his attempt at discreet vaping at Coachella? Or when he found himself enveloped in a big puffer jacket, which was apparently his attempt at escaping people?
Then there are the endless Leo drinking memes. We’ve seen his character Jay Gatsby raising his glass everywhere on the Internet. There’s also him losing it as an executive in the film The Wolf of Wall Street.
Simply put, Leonardo DiCaprio memes are so relatable. They describe all the moods we find ourselves in, which is why when we can’t express our thoughts, we send a Leo meme.
To celebrate the icon that is Leo DiCaprio and the Internet’s love for him, here’s a breakdown of the most popular Leonardo DiCaprio memes ever.
Our Favorite Leonardo DiCaprio Memes So Far
“Cheers Old Sport”
One of the most popular Leo memes is the one with him raising up his glass as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. In this particular scene, DiCaprio, portraying the financier, raises his glass while smiling at the frame. The glass raising combined with his satisfied expression made the scene a memorable one. It was so memorable, they had to make a meme out of it.
The first version of the memes was accompanied with “For you, Mr. DiCaprio!” texts. But as the meme gained popularity, people started changing the text to suit a variety of real-life scenarios: “A glass for people celebrating their birthdays today” and “A glass for those without sleep” are some of the most popular examples.
Eventually, a recursive meme popped up: “A glass for those who raise a glass for those who now raise a glass.” When Leo won his Oscar, it all came full circle when the meme was finally dedicated to him.
Strutting Leo
A viral photo taken on the set of Inception found itself landing on the History of Meme books. In the photo, we see a happy Leo strutting his stuff, which earned him the nickname “Strutting Leo,” as well as this Leonardo DiCaprio meme.
The meme first appeared on 4chan, the anonymous forum that gave birth to other memes. In the first version of this meme, Leo walks with a satisfied look against a backdrop of cycling footage. Everyone’s having a miserable time in the photo except him.
This became a recurring theme of the meme. Editors placed Strutting Leo against countless scenes of tragedies and disasters from films. We’ve seen Leo strut past Gandalf and ignore the latter’s warning about going where he shouldn’t go. We’ve also seen him walking through another Leo film, Inception.
“Fun Coupons”
Move over Oprah and your declaration of everyone getting anything. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort is the new rich meme who throws away money — literally.
This meme is from a scene from Wolf of Wallstreet. Belfort is “making it rain” with “Fun Coupons,” aka money. The image stuck with people who want to express thoughts concerning the wastage of money, or the fun coupons, as Leo called it.
The Laughing Leo Meme
This Leonardo DiCaprio meme from Django Unchained is an image of the actor as Calvin Candie smiling while he holds a drink. The 2012 version gained so many Photoshop edits that it gained popularity on Tumblr in 2017, which eventually continued in 2020 on Reddit.
The first version of this meme appeared on Tumblr and the user edited a can of Monster Energy Drink in Leo’s hand. The photo was the user expressing her wishes for French to be the national language. In 2020, the image went viral again when a Reddit user edited the meme to show DiCaprio holding a Dairy Queen Blizzard upside down. Other Reddit users tried their hand at the meme and eventually, Candie made his comeback to the Internet.
Pointing Rick Dalton
Yet another Leonardo DiCaprio drinking meme, the Pointing Rick Dalton meme is from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The meme is used whenever you want to express excitement and recognition. In the film, Leo’s character points at the TV when he finds himself onscreen.
The first time this meme was used was on Twitter. User Anna Swanson used the image with the caption, “When I notice the timeline change in Little Women.” By 2020, the meme was everywhere on Twitter as more users used the meme to express feelings of recognition.
With so many Leo memes online, you’ll never run out of images to use to express your feelings. Thanks to Leonardo DiCaprio’s outstanding contribution to Hollywood, memes are aplenty and we have all the time to use them to define our lives.