Comedian Behind Famous Meme Dies Aged 83

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Most of you will say “Huh? Who is that?” when you are asked who Gene Wilder is but if you are a regular social media user, you may have seen one really popular meme that was stemmed from his performance in a movie.

His well known performance as Willy Wonka in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory gave rise to this meme of a “condescending Willy Wonka” that has been used across social media for years now.

Gene sadly died yesterday at the age of 83 due to complications of Alzheimer’s and the news led to an immediate outpouring of emotion towards the late actor last night.

There was a statement from the family about his death.

Several celebrities and regular people tweeted their tributes about the actor where they described him as a “great talent” or a “funny guy” and the likes.

Heaven just got funnier

Some commented about his other role in the Producers

A true legend

Gene was a big part of their childhood memories as indicated by some people’s tributes.

This is not the first celebrity death this year as we have experienced the death of the famous singers David Bowie and Prince as well as the famous British actor Alan Rickman. Their deaths broke Twitter literally and it shows how effective Twitter is in delivering breaking news. In the case of Gene Wilder, the younger generation will most likely know him as the guy we always use as a meme when we are about to become condescending to someone on social media.