The 'Fat Axl Rose' meme stems from a series of photographs taken by Gauntlet contributor Louis Messier during a Guns N' Roses concert in 2010. The images captured a noticeably heavier Axl Rose compared to his lean, 1980s glam-rock image. The internet quickly latched onto these photos, pairing them with parody lyrics of the band’s biggest hits, often focusing on food and overeating. Phrases like 'Welcome to the buffet, we've got tons of cake' or 'Sweet Pie O' Mine' became the standard format. In 2016, the meme gained even more notoriety when Axl Rose himself filed a DMCA request to have the images removed from Google's search results, which inevitably triggered the Streisand Effect, causing the meme to resurface with even greater popularity across social media platforms.