Lin-Manuel Miranda's lip-biting selfies have become a huge meme on TikTok

• The Broadway sensation "Hamilton" has been enjoying increased time in the public spotlight after a film of the musical hit Disney Plus in July.
• On TikTok, people have taken to making memes about "Hamilton" and its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
• Most prominently, people are spamming Miranda's infamous lip-biting selfies on the platform, making them inescapable.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Broadway sensation "Hamilton" was thrust back into public consciousness when the film (a stage recording featuring the original cast) landed on Disney Plus earlier this month. "Hamilton" sounds, covers, and memes have been present all over TikTok in the past several weeks, but recently, a new trend emerged that features the show's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Gen Z is spamming the platform with videos featuring Miranda biting his lip in a now-iconic selfie. 

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The most popular lip-biting image comes from a tweet that Miranda posted on Dec. 13, 2018, although another that he tweeted on Nov. 12, 2018 has also been making the rounds. This is far from the first time that Miranda has been roasted for his selfies — the most recent prior event was when he sold framed selfies on his website for $79 (a portion of the sales go to 'worthy causes,' according to the site).

At this point, the image has become nigh-inescapable on TikTok, with users making roundabout jokes to bring it into their content or simply trick people into coming across it or another one of Miranda's lip-biting selfies. The trend appears to have picked up sometime around July 13 but has continued since, with Miranda's face frequently appearing in conjunction with sound taken from his public demos for "Hamilton" tracks, including "This One's Mine" (a "Helpless" precursor) and "The Story of Tonight."

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TikTok user @mitskifan42, a.k.a. 19-year-old Nicholas (who asked to only be referred to by their first name), was one of the first to spam TikToks related to the trend. They told Insider that while they knew that the selfie had been a meme for awhile, they had never seen anyone "rickroll" with it on TikTok.

On July 12 and 13, they posted over 10 consecutive TikToks featuring Miranda's selfie, helping to spam people's For You Pages with the image. Later, they saw more people starting to join in on the meme. "i just made the first one not thinking anyone of it and everyone had such an immediate and visceral reaction to it that i knew i wanted to keep it going," Nicholas told Insider in a message. "i tried to find as many old tiktok sounds that i could make the trend work with and basically kept them coming."

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The trend has reached the point where even Miranda has acknowledged it, talking about the phenomenon in a freestyle rap that he posted to Twitter on July 17. "Bit my lip, ah sh-t, TikTok hates when I do that," he raps.

The meme plays into several long traditions of clowning cringe selfies and theater kids alike, exacerbated by "Hamilton's" massive popularity and recent resurgence. Nicholas said that some have accused people on TikTok of "cyberbullying" Miranda, but said that they don't have anything against him. 

"i think the funniest part about the whole lin-pocalypse is how bizarre of a thing it is to be the subject of this much attention, like it's just a random selfie from him," Nicholas said. "a lot of people think i hate him or have something against him, but i really just think it's a silly picture. it's no different than any other meme."

• Read more:
• Lin-Manuel Miranda is selling $79 framed selfies on his website and is getting roasted for it: 'like the prudest of OnlyFans'
• Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast of 'Hamilton' surprised a 9-year-old fan with a Zoom performance on John Krasinski's YouTube show
• Lin-Manuel Miranda confirmed that 'Hamilton' will be censored on Disney Plus: 'I literally gave two f-cks so the kids could see it'

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