Red Circle Perpetrators is a photo edit format where a circled cutout of a character is pasted into an unrelated picture, mimicking clickbait "zoom-in" arrows to frame them as the culprit at the scene. The template started in late 2021 with the Trojan Horse Chuu K-pop edits and hit peak reach during the summer 2022 Taylor Swift private jet story.
Origin
The visual template predates the meme by several years. Around 2014, an unknown user made a Chuck Norris edit in which the actor's face, inside a red circle with an arrow, was pasted onto a highway photo of a single car driving against traffic. That image was reshared for years on 9GAG, Facebook, and Twitter through the mid-2010s[3].
The Red Circle Perpetrator format specifically started on September 26, 2020, when Twitter user @hwmhm posted the first "Trojan Horse Chuu" edit, dropping a circled cutout of LOONA member Chuu into a real photograph[1]. The post pulled roughly 11,000 likes but did not spawn a wider template. That changed on November 16, 2021, when stan account @loonapostagem tweeted their own Chuu version, which broke 13,000 likes and turned the joke into a repeatable format[1].
- Platform: Twitter (Trojan Horse Chuu) / Tumblr (viral spread)
- Creator: @hwmhm (Trojan Horse Chuu format)
- Date: 2020
Overview
Red Circle Perpetrators is a photo edit format in which a small circled cutout of a character is pasted into an unrelated image, mimicking the red-arrow "zoom-in" style used in clickbait thumbnails to point out a supposed culprit at a scene[1]. The joke works by inserting someone who was obviously not present, a K-pop idol, a cartoon character, or a celebrity, into a real news photo or viral image and framing them as the secret perpetrator[3].
The format is instantly recognisable because it copies the crude visual grammar of low-effort tabloid graphics: a red ring, an arrow, and a tightly cropped face floating over a chaotic scene[3]. It took off in late 2021 through the "Trojan Horse Chuu" edits on Twitter and hit its biggest run of variants in summer 2022[2].
How It Spread
By late November 2021, more Trojan Horse Chuu variants filled K-pop Twitter, including a @vaisefudechuu edit that grafted Chuu onto the original Chuck Norris highway photo[3]. The format broke out of the LOONA fandom on June 1, 2022, when Twitter user @ratiothesenuts edited a dog in round glasses into the same highway image. That post reached about 12,100 likes before being deleted[3].
Tumblr picked it up almost immediately. On June 2, 2022, user joshlovesyou reposted the dog edit and pulled over 6,800 likes and reblogs in two months, and on June 4 user pinkmoondoll9shihtzu swapped in Chainsaw Man's Power for another 1,200 notes[3]. The template broke free of the highway photo on June 15, 2022, when @catfactory circled a figure into a low-resolution White House shot, and an Animals with Captions reformat on July 17 pulled roughly 20,000 likes[3].
Peak reach came on July 30, 2022, during the Taylor Swift private jet emissions story, when Twitter user @emopunkloser edited Swift into the cockpit of the plane hitting the World Trade Center. The post pulled about 64,100 likes in four days and set off a wave of Swift-as-perpetrator variants[2].
How to Use
The template typically starts with a real photograph of a chaotic or newsworthy scene: a car crash, a highway shot, a landmark, a historic disaster. Creators then paste a small circled headshot of a character somewhere in the frame, usually with a crude red arrow pointing at a specific spot, so the character reads as the hidden perpetrator[3]. Common conventions include keeping the circle low-effort and pixelated to match the clickbait look, and picking a face that is absurd in context (a K-pop idol, a fictional character, or a celebrity known for unrelated drama)[1].
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Red Circle Perpetrators?
It is a photo edit format that pastes a circled cutout of a character into a real news or viral photo, mimicking clickbait zoom-in arrows to frame them as the culprit at the scene[3].
Where did Red Circle Perpetrators come from?
The format started on September 26, 2020, with Twitter user @hwmhm's first "Trojan Horse Chuu" edit, and became a repeatable template after @loonapostagem's November 16, 2021 post[1].
What does Red Circle Perpetrators mean?
The joke is treating an obviously unrelated character as if they were secretly present at the scene, using the crude red-circle style of tabloid clickbait graphics to sell the fake accusation[3].
How do you use Red Circle Perpetrators?
People take a chaotic photo, paste a small circled headshot of a character into the frame with a red arrow, and caption or contextualise them as the hidden perpetrator, often picking an absurd or off-topic face for the punchline[3].
Is Red Circle Perpetrators still popular?
The format's biggest run was summer 2022, capped by @emopunkloser's Taylor Swift jet edit on July 30, 2022, which pulled about 64,100 likes in four days and cemented it as a classic photo edit template[2].
