The Homophobic Dog Meme, Explained

What exactly is the homophobic dog and why is it sweeping the internet?

Most recently, the spokesperson for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ (R), Press Secretary Christina Pushaw, fell for a fake news story based on the meme. Earlier this week, she tweeted a screenshot of a photoshopped article supposedly from The Washington Post written by Taylor Lorenz entitled, "This dog is the new face of online homophobia: Internet trolls have turned a dachshund into a viral homophobic meme—and her gay owners don’t know what to do."

"More cutting edge journalism from the 49-year-old Washington Post activist infamous for showing up masked on random people’s doorsteps and sliding into the DMs of TikTok Teenagers," she wrote alongside the fake news article.

So how exactly was this meme created and who is the dog behind the photos? The dog is named Whitney Chewston and has over 100,000 followers on Instagram.

According to Know Your Meme, the first viral photo of Whitney, seemingly judging the person looking at the photograph went viral after the photo was posted with the caption, "not too fond of gay people" on the Whisper app, suggesting that the pooch is in fact homophobic.

It reached viral status by March 2021 and has spread worldwide using other photos of Whitney judging you silently. Users have put their own comedic and sarcastic phrases over the photos of the tiny dog. Ironically, Whitney's owners are a gay couple, who even noted Whitney's popularity on their Instagram account dedicated to the adorable dachshund.