The 'Unflattering Beyonce' meme stems from Beyoncé’s 2013 Super Bowl XLVII halftime performance. Following the show, several photos capturing the singer in mid-motion were published online, leading her publicist to email media outlets like BuzzFeed requesting their removal. This attempt backfired spectacularly, triggering the Streisand Effect and causing the images to spread even more rapidly across Reddit, 4chan, and social media. The image is now a quintessential example of internet defiance, frequently used to mock failed attempts at censorship or to represent someone putting in extreme physical effort in a comical way.