Kyle Richards, 51, and Taylor Armstrong, 48, accidentally became meme sensations, and still don’t know how it happened. It all began when the Bravo stars filmed the infamous restaurant fight scene in Season 1 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (which went down 2010, FYI). Someone with an eye for viral content screengrabbed the moment Kyle had her arm wrapped around Taylor, who was crying and pointing at Kim Richards. Instead of Kim, though, someone put the RHOBH photo side-by-side with a photo of the Internet famous cat Smudge, who looked dumbstruck while sitting at a dinner table. “The meme. I had no idea where it came from,” Kim admitted in a “Behind-The-Scenes With Bravolebs” clip, posted to Twitter on April 22. “I have no idea why I’m yelling at that poor little cat Smudge.”
The meme went viral in 2019, and now, Taylor and Kyle are being recognized for their accidental accomplishment. “But I am getting an award in a couple of weeks for meme of the year,” Kim revealed! Kim does have one worry, though — will the meme outlive her Bravo legacy? “Now that it has been a year of memes, I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to be more well known in my lifetime for the meme than I will for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” she teased.
Kyle shares Kim’s thoughts on the matter. “It’s still the craziest thing. I still don’t get it. Like why would that become a thing. Why would they put the cat — I have no idea. I still don’t get it,” Kyle told Jenny McCarthy and Donnie Wahlberg on the April 22 episode of their SiriusXM show. But Kyle had a confession to make: she’s bought her own meme merch! “I had so many people tagging me in their ugly Christmas sweaters…I of course had to break down and buy the sweatshirts and sweaters,” she revealed. “My kids were wearing them. I mean its just so crazy, it’s one of the world’s most famous memes.”
Watch former Housewife @TaylorArmstrong relive an iconic #RHOBH moment and contemplate the new notoriety that comes with being a meme! pic.twitter.com/AdtbxdmMFQ
— Bravo (@BravoTV) April 22, 2020
These photos together is making me lose it pic.twitter.com/kJi9d8MpbG
— gg (@MISSINGEGIRL) May 1, 2019
What was Taylor yelling about, anyways? Well, you can learn the real reason in the clip above (unfortunately, it’s not because the Bravo star was beefing with Smudge the cat). Taylor was a main cast member between Seasons 1-3 and guest starred on Seasons 4,5, and 6, while Kyle is now in the midst of her 10th season of RHOBH, which just premiered its new season on April 15.