Grumpy Cat

No.

On September 23, 2012, Bryan Bundesen posted photos of his sister Tabatha's cat to Reddit. The cat—a mixed breed named Tardar Sauce, born April 4, 2012, in Morristown, Arizona—had an unusual face. Due to feline dwarfism and an underbite, she wore a permanent expression of profound displeasure. Within 24 hours, the post had 25,300 upvotes. Within 48 hours, the Imgur link had nearly a million views.

Grumpy Cat was born.

The format was simple: Tardar Sauce's perpetually annoyed face paired with nihilistic captions. "I had fun once. It was awful." "Good morning. I hate you." "You want me to smile? No." She became the patron saint of misanthropy, the fuzzy avatar of everyone who had ever had to pretend to enjoy a Monday.

Grumpy Cat transcended typical meme fame. She became a brand. Friskies made her their spokescat. Hallmark gave her a Christmas movie (Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever). She had comic books, merchandise, and appeared on countless talk shows. Her Facebook page accumulated over a million followers. She was, by any measure, the most famous cat on the internet.

But Tardar Sauce was more than her meme. By all accounts, she was a sweet, well-cared-for cat who happened to look perpetually disappointed in humanity. Her owners insisted her grumpy face didn't reflect her actual personality—she was affectionate and content.

On May 17, 2019, Tardar Sauce passed away at age seven from complications of a urinary tract infection. The BBC, CNN, and The New York Times all ran obituaries. A meme cat had become a celebrity worthy of international mourning.

Rest in peace, Grumpy Cat. You taught us it was okay to be annoyed by everything.

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