Gravity Cat is a mid-2000s YTMND-era meme built around a cat floating inside a reduced-gravity aircraft, later paired with the catchphrase "Gravity Cat is Not Amused." It started on YTMND in July 2005 and eventually merged with the 4chan cat-plus-buttered-toast antigravity joke, spreading to I Can Has Cheezburger lolcats and Garry's Mod builds by 2007.
Origin
On July 16, 2005, YTMND user altoidjunkie posted "Look at the Kitty Bounce!" pairing the reduced-gravity cat clip with Yakety Sax[1]. About seven months later, YTMND user Demi uploaded "Anti-Gravity Cat," which used the 4chan cat-and-toast image and kicked off a short run of copycat pages built on the same joke[3].
The version that locked in the name came on August 21, 2006, when YTMND user mbrmbr posted a page reusing the original floating-cat GIF with a text-to-speech voice reading "Gravity Cat is Not Amused" over a rave track, following the same NEDM-style template popular on YTMND at the time[4].
- Platform: YTMND (origin) / 4chan and I Can Has Cheezburger (spread)
- Creator: altoidjunkie (YTMND user)
- Date: 2005
Overview
Gravity Cat refers to a cluster of YTMND pages and image edits built around footage of a cat drifting weightless inside a reduced-gravity aircraft, set to loud, upbeat audio like Yakety Sax[1]. Remixers latched onto the odd contrast between the animal's calm face and the chaotic soundtrack, and later versions added a robotic text-to-speech line reading "Gravity Cat is Not Amused"[3].
The meme also fused with a separate 4chan image showing a cat strapped to a piece of buttered toast, playing on the old joke that toast always lands butter-side down while cats always land on their feet, so combining them yields infinite antigravity[2]. From that mashup, "Gravity Cat" turned into a loose umbrella term covering both the aircraft footage and the toast-cat edits.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Gravity Cat?
A cluster of YTMND pages and image edits built around a cat floating in a reduced-gravity aircraft, later expanded with 4chan's cat-and-buttered-toast antigravity gag[1].
Where did Gravity Cat come from?
YTMND user altoidjunkie posted the first version, "Look at the Kitty Bounce!", on July 16, 2005, using footage of a real cat in a parabolic flight[1].
What does Gravity Cat mean?
It plays on the visual joke of a cat that appears weightless, later merged with the antigravity toast-cat concept where a buttered cat can never land[2].
How do you use Gravity Cat?
Most examples pair the floating cat footage or the toast-cat image with loud looping audio and a text-to-speech line like "Gravity Cat is Not Amused"[4].
Is Gravity Cat still popular?
It is a classic mid-2000s YTMND meme; new posts are rare, but it still appears in early lolcat archives and Garry's Mod uploads[5].
