The Glen Powell Capybara Meme, Explained
Every so often, you'll log onto the internet and see a collection of words that mean something separately but when put together create something seemingly nonsensical. A lot of people may have had that reaction upon seeing some discuss the Glen Powell capybara meme and wondering what exactly that means. Was Glen Powell in a movie with a capybara? Did he get attacked by a capybara? Nope; some just think Powell kind of looks like the large rodent thanks to an old photo.
The meme originated from a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) someone made using a photo of Powell smiling rather widely at the "Hidden Figures" premiere. User @koalarolls quoted-tweeted a post of the photo with the caption, "He looks like a capybara who made a wish to become human." Others ran with the joke, and Powell himself eventually became aware. In response to a photoshoot where he bares a lot, he reposted the "capybara" comment along with his own caption: "I only took off my pants to try and bury this photo." You can add a sense of humor to some little known facts about Glen Powell.
Ever since, the capybara comparisons have been part of the promotion cycles for various Powell movies. For example, in December 2023, Powell appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" where he was asked about the photo that started it all. He explained, "This is why the internet's a great place. Like, I really kind of own the capybara thing now. I am the capybara." Truer words never spoken.
Glen Powell's co-stars have gotten in on the capybara jokes
Getting nude hasn't been enough to squash the Glen Powell capybara meme because it still comes up frequently. While promoting "Anyone But You" with Sydney Sweeney on MTV UK, the capybara jokes came up again, with Powell jokingly asserting, "I'm going to get a capybara ... Because then what happens is my capybara will become more Google-able. And then my meme is a thing of the past." We'll never know whether the capybara meme helped "Anyone But You" blow everyone away at the box office, but it's become a fixture in many interviews since.
The capybara jokes would re-emerge for the promotion of Powell's latest film, "Twisters," with first reactions all saying the movie's entertaining. But before getting entertained by the flick, people can laugh at Powell and co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones having a lot of fun at the meme's expense. The two appeared on "Hot Ones Versus" to see how well they know each other, and Powell asked Edgar-Jones what animal he'd most want to be. Anyone chronically online could probably answer it, but Edgar-Jones says it must be a rat, to which Powell then explains that it would be a capybara based on the meme. The joke reemerges later in the piece when Edgar-Jones jokingly refers to Powell as a "capybara son of a gun."
It's nice to see Powell embrace his inner capybara at every turn. The only thing now is that the person who started the capybara Glen Powell meme in the first place wants some credit for kicking things off, as @koalarolls posted to X following the "Hot Ones Versus" appearance: "RUN ME MY CHECK GLEN!!! I WILL FIND YOU!!!"