MySpace's Most Famous Stranger Vanished 17 Years Ago

In August 2009, a 46-year-old man in eyeliner uploaded a few mirror selfies to MySpace under the name CrisXcruX. Within three weeks, the internet had renamed him Emo Dad. Within two years, he was one of the most recognizable faces of the image-macro era. And then the trail went cold: the profile returned "410 Gone," the forums that argued about him shut down, the meme generators died, and Know Your Meme's entry has said "identity unknown" since 2012. Seventeen years later, nobody has ever publicly identified him.Hosted by Justin Whang. Watch Tales From the Internet and follow him everywhere:▶ JUSTIN WHANG YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JustinWhangYt Subscribe for more internet history, weekly.Produced and Written by Andy SowarEdited by Mica Sandi / Milan LabsSOURCES Emo Dad on Know Your Meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/emo-dad Emo Dad image gallery (KYM): https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/emo-dad/photos KYM meme-research thread, 2010: https://knowyourmeme.com/forums/meme-research/topics/5072-emo-dad "Reviewing the Classic 'Emo Dad' Meme 14 Years Later" (KYM editorial, 2023): https://knowyourmeme.com/editorials/meme-review/reviewing-the-classic-emo-dad-meme-14-years-later KYM's 2023 short on Emo Dad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUh80JiQJ5Y Earliest known repost — FunnyJunk, Sep 1 2009: https://funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/42783/Emo+Dad/ BuzzFeed "emo dad," Nov 2009 (archived): https://web.archive.org/web/20091120090522/https://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/emo-dad-cci BuzzFeed "Best of Emo Dad," Feb 2011: https://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/best-of-emo-dad-bif r/pics "Emo dad," Jan 2011: https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/fboze/emo_dad/ Advice Animals on Know Your Meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/advice-animals Facebook overtakes MySpace in the U.S. (PCWorld, Jun 2009): https://www.pcworld.com/article/523618/facebook_overtakes_myspace_in_us.html MySpace to cut 30 percent of staff (NPR, Jun 2009): https://www.npr.org/2009/06/17/105504364/myspace-to-cut-30-percent-of-jobs MySpace deletes user blogs in new-platform launch (TechCrunch, Jun 2013): https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/12/bring-the-blogs-back/ Fine Brothers launch "Emo Dad" animated series (AWN, 2013): https://www.awn.com/news/fine-brothers-launch-emo-dad-animated-web-series Fine Bros "Emo Dad" season 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOWUUZBqMN4 Avenged Sevenfold, City of Evil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Evil