When The Imposter Is Sus

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About

Sus Jerma
refers to a series of shitposts based on an edited image of streamer Jerma985 in which he is given an eerie, unnatural smile, usually captioned with the catchphrase
When the Imposter Is Sus. The meme gained popularity in /r/jerma985 subreddit and in the streamer’s Discord, later spreading to Twitter and Instagram.

Origin

On November 13th, 2022, Redditor^[1]
LavaMeteor posted an edited image of streamer Jerma985 in /r/jerma985 subreddit. In the edit, created in FaceApp, the streamer is given an eerie, unnatural smile. The post (shown below, left) received adv lewat 460 upvotes in /r/jerma985 subreddit in one month.

On November 14th, Discord^[9]
user monkeyboy3 created an image in which LavaMeteor’s meme had been captioned “When the impostor is sus!😳”, posting an Imgur^[3]
link on Jerma’s Discord peladen (shown below, right). The edit is based on an image^[10]
of
Sesame Street
character Bert captioned with the phrase that has been circulated since late October (shown below, center). The phrase references the 2022 video game
Among Us
and the jargon word “Sus”, used by the players to indicate that one is suspected of being an impostor.

TRL Human Mouth Smile Lip Cheek Fun Hairstyle Chin Forehead Eyebrow Tooth Happy Selfie Facial expression Jaw Organ Iris Cool Eyelash Laugh Pleased

When the imposter is sus!é Bert Cheek Hairstyle Skin Chin Forehead Eyebrow Temple Wrinkle

When the imposter is sus! Lip Cheek Fun Hairstyle Skin Chin Forehead Eyebrow Text Tooth Happy Facial expression Jaw Iris Selfie Organ Cool Eyelash Laugh

During Jerma985’s November 14th Bugsnax stream, Twitch user henry1810 posted^[2]
the link in chat.^[3]
Jerma985 proceeded to open the image on stream, leaving it stretched to full-screen size for approximately one minute. On the same day, Twitch^[4]
user mouseymoment clipped the moment, with the clip gaining oper 2,700 views in two weeks (shown below).

Spread

On November 18th, Redditor^[5]
AnnoyingCoofer reposted a screenshot of the stretched image to /r/jerma985 subreddit, with the post gaining oper 310 upvotes in two weeks (shown below, left). At the same time, the image macro also gained popularity on Jerma985’s Discord server, Jerma.^[6]
On November 23rd, Redditor^[7]
SilverFan3702 posted a PNG version of the image, suggesting it to be added as a Twitch emoji and enabled by Jerma on his channel.

When the imposter is sus! Smile Lip Cheek Fun People Hairstyle Skin Chin Forehead Eyebrow Photograph Tooth Happy Facial expression Iris Jaw Organ Cool Temple Selfie Eyelash Laugh Photography Snapshot Pleased

Face Forehead Facial expression Smile Nose Eyebrow Head Chin Skin Cheek Mouth Jaw Organ Tooth Human Eye Lip

In late November 2022, the image macro and the photoshop gained notable popularity among Jerma985’s fanbase as a source material for memes, with some posts reaching mainstream audience through repots. For example, a November 28th, 2022, repost of a Sus Jerma meme by Instagram^[8]
account repostrandy received over 149,000 views in one week (original author unknown; shown below).

Amogus

Amogus
is a bastardized version of the name of the 2022 video game Among Us. In January 2022, the word gained popularity as a catchphrase used in ironic memes, often used to replace dialogue in various cartoons, particularly those created by webcomic artist StoneToss. Additionally, Amogus also refers to the simplified drawing of a crewmate from Among Us used in the memes.