Axl Rose Attempted to Remove His Fat Memes from the Internet

Guns N' Roses was one of the world's biggest hard rock bands in the late 80s and the 90s.

During their prime, the band's frontman, Axl Rose, was one of the biggest names in the music industry.

However, aside from his music, internet users often remember Rose for the Fat Axl Rose memes.

The Fat Axl Rose memes originated from several pictures snapped from a 2010 concert by a photographer with Winnipeg Free Press named Boris Minkevich.

Rose clearly sported a much larger frame during the concert, and many took a jab at his appearance not long after.

The Gauntlet, a heavy metal news site, republished the photographs with unsavory comments regarding the singer.

"A bloated Axl Rose, along with the faux Guns N' Roses, returned to Canada last night," wrote the publication.

"I do think this will be Axl Rose in rare form, as he was reportedly all over the stage, running around like normal. The weight should just melt off. He needs to lay off that turkey dinner before each show."

The photographs soon made their way around the internet as memes.

Axl Rose in a fat Axl Rose meme (Source: Twitter)

Paired with the pictures are captions that match some lyrics of Guns N' Roses' greatest hits to mock his overweight appearance. 

Axl Rose Attempted to Take Down His Fat Memes

Rose's fat memes rapidly circulated among rock fans and normal internet users.

One meme took the lyrics of their 1987 hit, 'Paradise City,' and changed it to "Take me down to the BBQ city where the ribs are greasy and the fries are crispy."

Rose was understandably unsatisfied by how he was portrayed in the memes and attempted to take down the images.

According to the Washington Post, a batch of DMCA copyright notices were filed on behalf of Rose and sent to Google requesting the removal of the photos.

The notices were filed by Web Sheriff and read, "Please note that no permission has been granted to publish the copyright images, so we cannot direct you to an authorized example of it."

However, there was a dispute over who actually owned the photographs. 

While Web Sheriff claimed photographers attending Rose's concert must sign a release assigning ownership of the images to the singer, Minkevich, who took the photographs, said he couldn't remember if he signed the release or not.

Mike Aporius, the multimedia director of Winnipeg Free Press, said they couldn't control how the photograph was used.

"We were only recently made aware of the memes," he said. "And while we ethically don't approve, viral media is impossible for us to regulate. Welcome to the jungle."

People's Reaction To His Attempt

While Rose intended to scrub his overweight photographs from the internet, his attempt to take them down backfired on him.

Not long after the news of his attempt made headlines, people took to Twitter en masse to post the memes with #FatAxl and #NeverStop.

"Dear Axl," one user wrote. "The easiest way to have more fat Axl memes is to tell people they can't post them."

Rose ultimately failed in taking down the images, and they still live on the internet.