Duke University’s men’s basketball team was thought to be on the path to reaching the championship game of the current NCAA tournament, following a significant lead in their Final Four match against Houston. However, their 14-point advantage unexpectedly vanished, resulting in the Blue Devils’ elimination from the tournament.
This outcome was, however, ideal fodder for “White Lotus” memes. In the latest season of “The White Lotus,” the character Timothy Ratliff, played by Jason Isaacs, experiences a downward spiral in Thailand, contemplating extreme actions as his financial misdeeds come to light in the United States. Significantly, Ratliff, an alumnus of Duke, often donned a Duke t-shirt during these scenes.
Consequently, memes leveraging this narrative were readily available as Duke lost their lead. The widespread nature of these memes eventually became a joke in itself.
For its part, Duke University is not entirely satisfied with its portrayal in “The White Lotus.” Frank Tramble, Duke’s Vice President for Communications, Marketing, and Public Affairs, expressed to The New York Times that while Duke supports artistic expression and storytelling, the depiction of characters wearing clothing with Duke’s trademarks causes confusion and falsely implies endorsement or affiliation, which is not the case.
Despite the university’s concerns, the proliferation of memes remains unstoppable.
