By now, we have all seen the photo of four lads in jeans. It’s a photo that was taken before a night out in Birmingham in June 2019. In it, are friends Connor Humpage, Kevin Rooney and Jamie Phillips, and Alex Lacey. If you’ve somehow missed the memes, check out our collection here.

four lads in jeans
Source: OK! Magazine

When the photo first appeared over a year ago, the memes portrayed the lads as thick. They re-emerged in summer last year, adding to this assumption that they were also racist too, all because of the way they look and dress. Numerous memes were made claiming the lads would have disagreed with the huge BLM protests that occurred throughout 2020. But the lads (from Birmingham and Coventry) are not either of those things.

They know it’s all based on stereotypes, with one of the boys saying ‘it’s just stereotyping dumb things said by white lads’. In fact, one of the boys is a tattoo artist and has been working on a drawing of George Floyd. The lads blame the show Love Island for the stereotypes. They say that because they dress similar to some of the blokes on the show, people assume they’re going to behave like them. When really, they’ve all got ‘reasonably well-paid jobs’.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBQfkv1Asnu/

Some of the comments have been even worse than assuming the 4 chaps’ personalities, with claims that they should harm themselves and threats. Alex’s number got released at one point, and he got prank calls. He began to get quite affected by all the attention, especially when they moved onto his Mum. He eventually left social media. Overall though, the boys have been very thick-skinned when it comes to all the online trolls. They’ve kept their heads high and taken it within their strides.

The recent new wave of attention was caused by a TikTok video wherein the lads are singing a sea shanty – which the boys found hilarious. They’ve decided to just embrace it. Especially as the new video is turning the comments from horrid ones to entertained ones. With this new wave of positivity, the lads are hoping to improve their lives, rather than focus and hide from the hate. Connor hopes his fame will help him open a tattoo shop!

Although, they’ve all said that the skinny jeans are here to stay.