Everyone is undoubtedly familiar with the notorious fart meme — yes, the one with a guy sitting next to a girl while his face is contorted as if he’s on the verge of exploding right in the middle of a classroom.

Waves of laughter resounded across the internet as they assumed the guy in the meme was fighting a silent battle, desperately trying to squeeze his butt cheeks and prevent an impending fart from accidentally escaping.

What might surprise some netizens is that the story behind the photo had nothing to do with the struggles of trying to suppress a fart. Here’s the scoop on what actually happened in the picture.

Michael McGee, the man starring in the widely famous meme, revealed that he was a student at Northwest High School in Justin, Texas, when he posed for a picture in 2013.

Mike, who was 16 years old at the time, said he can contort his face whenever he wants and make his veins bulge.

“I was not flatulent by any means!” Mike told Unilad. “It’s quite a party trick, really. I just kind of hold my breath and flex my head, if that makes any sense?”

Michael McGee shares the truth behind his history-making meme

Image credits: Reddit

Mike, who is now one of the most recognizable faces on the internet, explained that he posed for a friend so that they could share a funny post on social media to keep up with their reputation of being the funny guys on Twitter.

“The guy who took the picture has been a really good friend of mine since I moved to Texas, and I knew I could do that face any time I wanted,” Mike told the outlet. “So he wanted to take a picture and put a funny caption with it. So he got his phone and told me to make a face.”

Mathew Rosero, the friend who took the picture, said in a BuzzFeedVideo that it was probably in the sixth or seventh grade when he and his friends noticed that Mike’s veins would pop whenever he laughed. So, during their high school days, Mathew asked Mike to make his “veins bulge out” so he could potentially gain some attention on Twitter.

“Me knowing Michael can make his veins bulge out, I’m like, ‘Yo, Michael, make your veins bulge out real quick, and let me take a picture.’ And he’s like, ‘alright, cool,’” Mathew recalled.

After the picture was clicked, Mathew posted it on social media with a random caption that had nothing to do with flatulence. The picture didn’t get much attention until about two months later when the photo suddenly became viral and took on a life of its own.

Mike believes his photograph is one of the top 5 memes of all time

Image credits: BuzzFeedVideo

The widely shared photo was shared on Reddit with the caption: “Trying to hold a fart next to a cute girl in class.”

The photo soon reached the nooks and crannies of the internet, and Mike, consequently, entered the world of internet stardom to be known as the guy from the fart meme.

Comments on the Reddit post poured in as the internet found the scenario humorously relatable.

“He should really just let it go and cut his losses,” one comment said, while another added, “Looks like he’s about to explode.”

“That kids gonna pop a blood vessel. I would just ask to go to the bathroom and crop dust that whole class,” another joked.

One person wrote, “She is texting her boyfriend saying, ‘This dude next to me is totally holding in a fart.'”

Some people even shared their own embarrassing experiences.

“Reminds me of the first night I spent with my ex at her place, by the time I left I was using my whole body to hold that bastard in,” one Reddit user wrote.

Another said, “Walked into Starbucks on my lunch break and crop dusted 20+ high school girls in line on the way to the washroom, giggling as I walked by. Went to a movie with a friend (girl) held it in for 2 hours. Did not want to subject her to the horror of my protein farts. The moral of the story, it’s OK to fart on people if you’ll never see them again.”

Mike’s friends knew that his veins would bulge whenever he laughed and that’s what spurred the making of the viral photo

Image credits: BuzzFeedVideo

While speaking to Daily Dot, Mike explained that the picture barely got any attention at first, but it blew up about two months later.

“He captioned it something, and it got little or almost no attention. This is in, like, October of 2013,” Mike previously told the outlet.

“A couple months later, in December … I woke up and saw my phone blew up. I had like 100+ texts and notifications from all my social media [accounts] that this picture of me is going around,” he added.

“Overnight, I went from like 700 Twitter followers to like 3,000 or something like that,” Mike said in the BuzzFeedVideo.

“Personally, me, I might be biased, but I think it’s a top 5 meme of all time,” he added.

Mike regrets “not copyrighting the picture right away because [he] could have made a lot of money there”

Image credits: McGeezyyy/

After the internet turned his photo into a legendary tale of holding a fart in, Mike was left with only one regret from the unexpected stardom.

“My take on being ‘Internet famous’ is cool and all. But I regret not copyrighting the picture right away because I could have made a lot of money there,” he told Daily Dot.

Mike also noted that his parents did not really understand the hype behind his viral photo.

“My parents don’t really understand how big and widespread it’s become, so they overlook the whole thing. My friends find it hilarious, though!” he told Unilad.

Watch Mike and his friends recount the hilarious tale behind the making of the legendary meme

Image credits: BuzzFeedVideo

“Random people” still recognize him from the meme, Mike said. He added, “Strangers come up to ask him if he’s the fart meme guy.”

It is something he still sees with a sense of humor.

As for the “cute girl” in the picture, Mike told the outlet that he is still “very good friends” with his classmate, Amber Potter.

“At first, when he did the face, I was like, ‘What are you doing?!’ I hope he’s okay? It looked pretty painful,” Amber was quoted saying to the outlet.

One person joked about Mike being in the friend-zone even after becoming a global meme

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