MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

On May 14th, 2019 Tardar Sauce, known to millions as the Internet celebrity pet Grumpy Cat, died. Grumpy Cat’s image, it seemed, was to be found everywhere on the Internet – from social media platforms like Instagram to media appearances on American television like NBC (December 2012) and ABC (March 2013). Even merchandise and books could be purchased by fans of the famous feline. While some time has passed since the world first took notice of Grumpy Cat across the Web back in the fall of 2012 on Reddit, I want to argue that the virality and significance of Grumpy Cat does not stop with her death. In fact, such posthumous celebrity, though overlooked when it comes to nonhuman entities, should be reconsidered on the basis of how something lives, dies, and is memorialized online. Specifically, I turn my attention to examples of online tributes in the popular press and by fans that speak not only to specific ways of honoring Grumpy Cat but also preserving the virality that was the origin story of the famed feline. Attention will be devoted to how, in the wake of Grumpy Cat’s passing, the Internet shared the sad news and how social media platforms, in particular, acted as digital forums for grief and remembrance.