WANTED: HOT MALE CRIMINAL…!!??
The story of Jeremy Meeks reaching the ultimate ‘Internet meme’ status is a ridiculous one. If you don’t know who/what I’m referring to (although, I hope you do), then let me be clearer by saying he is THAT guy whose mugshot plastered the internet in June 2014 simply because of his handsome looks. It all began when the Stockton Police Department (yes, some random local police department) posted the mugshot to their Facebook page. That was nothing out of the ordinary because they frequently post mugshots, but Meeks’ photo clearly gained more attention than was expected. Within 48 hours of it being posted, the photo gained over 56,000 likes and 16,400 comments with people just obsessing over his attractiveness.
To illustrate, here are a couple interesting comments left by Facebook users on the photo:
“OMGGG superrrrrr Delicious” — Adjutha Lambertina
“Can we be handcuffed together … lordy!!” — Michelle Asher Morales
And it certainly did not stop there.
Hashtags, such as #FreeJeremyMeeks and #HottieThug were floating around Twitter. Photoshopped images of him in high fashion advertisements and ‘macro meme’ edits of the mugshot were rampant. Media outlets, such as TMZ, USA Today, and US Weekly were picking up on it, hyping it up even more. It was madness.
The guy was arrested on felony weapon charges, yet his looks blinded the thousands of people who couldn’t get over his baby blue eyes! It’s all mind boggling really, but one thing for sure is that the photo changed his life — and for the better. In 2016, after serving his jail sentence, Meeks began working as a model under White Cross Management (he signed with them while he was in jail). Last year, he made his New York Fashion Week debut, walking for designer Philipp Plein in his show. It’s crazy to think how quickly things turned around for him, trading in his criminal lifestyle for a fashion career. Overall, his capitalization off of that photo was/is exponentially a success.
But… Meeks initally had mixed emotions about the attention his mugshot (and ultimately his arrest) got. During an interview he had with ABC in prison, he stated that although he was flattered by the nature of the conversation about him, he wanted people to know that “this is really not me… I’m not some kingpin” (If you don’t know what ‘kingpin’ means, here is a definition from Urban Dictionary: “the leader of a crime syndicate or organisation. The ruler of any ‘game’. ie. drug game, rap game, crime game.”). I can’t blame him though. Who would really want their mugshot bringing them fame? It’s embarrassing, but since it did work in his favour, he’s now probably laughing about how he was upset about it — let’s be honest. His current Instagram profile picture is literally the mugshot. The photo made him, and he clearly acknowledges that.
To reiterate, Meeks is thriving. He went from rock bottom to the very top. He has a seemingly glamourous lifestyle from what he documents on Instagram with 1.7 million followers tracking his every move. Although, he did something fairly recently that OG fans of this ‘hot felon’ aren’t too happy about (and for a good reason). Meeks publicly left his wife Melissa of 9 years, whom he has 1 child with, for Topshop heiress Chloe Green. The fling even started WHILE he was still married to Melissa. This is all super interesting (*sarcasm*) considering that he signed with Topman right around the time he told the world about this new relationship. I should probably also mention Green’s dad has a net worth of £3.8 billion. Maybe we just don’t know the full story, but to me it all seems rather suspicious. However, he and Green do a good job at portraying themselves on social media as being quite comfy cozy with each other — just take a look at Green’s post from several days ago:
No matter how you look at it, the Stockton Police Department did Meeks a BIG favour by putting his mugshot online— whether they like it or not. This whole situation totally confirms that the internet is such a crazy place…
