Sad Keanu is a photoshop meme based on a paparazzi photograph of the Canadian American actor Keanu Reeves sitting on a park bench and enjoying a sandwich by himself.
Origin
The paparazzi photograph of sullen-looking Reeves eating a sandwich was taken sometime in May 2010 by the Splash News photographer Ron Asadorian. The earliest known "Sad Keanu" photoshop thread can be found on 4chan-like archive called Green-ovale.net, from the /tv/ (television & films) board, dating May 23th 2010. Another thread would pop-up on 4chan imageboard's /a/ (anime) board dating back to June 1st, 2010
On June 3rd, 2010, Reddit user rockon4life posted an image with the phrase "I really enjoy acting…Because when I act, I'm no longer me" in a thread entitled "Keanu. More sadness in comments". The thread quickly made it to Reddit's front page, gathering over 281,000 page views.
Keanu Reeves' Response
On January 18th, 2011, the Hollywood actor briefly addressed his newfound internet fame in a studio interview with BBC, quoted as saying:
- Do I wish that I didn't get my picture taken while I was eating a sandwich on the streets of New York? Yeah.
