Nick Young openly shared that he frequently uses his widely recognized "confused" meme to reply to people.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Young made it clear that while he embraces the meme and its role in pop culture, he also sees how much use it gets. The former NBA star joked that he wants royalties or some form of financial acknowledgement for how frequently his image is used.
"Dude I wish I got some money for it from the royalties," said Young.
The meme itself comes from a 2014 YouTube web series called Thru the Lens by Cassy Athena, which follows a day in Young's life. In Episode 4, there's a moment where Young's mother says he used to be a "clown" as a kid. Young makes that confused and somewhat amused facial expression, which many later noticed.
Over time, the screenshot of that moment, with two sets of three question marks on either side of Young's head, became a reaction image online. It especially blew up around 2015, particularly on Black Twitter and meme-focused pages.
The meme is still used widely by people who want to communicate a reaction to something confusing, absurd, or hard to believe. Young has even reacted to people using it in public, as seen when actor Lamorne Morris held up the meme during a Lakers vs. Clippers game, and Young cracked up after seeing it.
