Long before TikTok stars and Instagram creators became famous overnight, internet memes had already created their own kind of celebrity. One of the most recognizable faces from that early era was a young man in a fur-lined coat and backwards cap standing in a doorway. The internet called him Scumbag Steve. The face belonged to Blake Boston
His photograph became one of the defining meme images of the early 2010s.
The image was repeatedly paired with captions about selfish friends, bad behavior, freeloading and everyday acts of being a “scumbag.”
For millions of people who saw the meme, Scumbag Steve became a fictional character. But Blake Boston was a real person.
The photograph was actually taken years before the meme became popular.
Over the years he appeared at internet events, pursued music and participated in interviews about his experience.
He even explored the emerging world of meme-related digital collectibles.
So what happened to Scumbag Steve?
The short answer is that Scumbag Steve never really disappeared. Blake Boston simply grew up while the internet moved on to newer memes.
His face remains part of internet history even though he is no longer constantly in the spotlight.
Here is the story of Blake Boston and how an ordinary teenage photograph became one of the most famous meme images of the 2010s.
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Table of Contents
Who Is Blake Boston?
Blake Boston is the Massachusetts man whose teenage photograph became known online as Scumbag Steve. Boston was raised in the Greater Boston area.1
The photograph that eventually became the meme was taken in 2006 when he was 16 years old. His mother Susan Boston took the picture at their home.
At the time there was nothing particularly unusual about the photograph.
Boston was wearing a winter coat with a fur-lined collar and a backwards flat-brimmed Red Sox cap. He was standing in a doorway and looking toward the camera.
The image was simply a photograph of a teenager. It was not originally created as a meme.
According to accounts of the story, Boston was actually pleased with the photograph and allowed his mother to post it online.
Several years later the picture resurfaced and was transformed by internet users into the Scumbag Steve character. That distinction is important.
Blake Boston is not the same person as Scumbag Steve.
Scumbag Steve is a fictional meme character based on Boston’s appearance. The captions attached to the image represented an exaggerated personality created by internet users.
That did not stop people from assuming the character reflected Boston’s real personality. That was one of the most difficult parts of becoming a meme.
Is Blake Boston Still Called Scumbag Steve?
Yes. The nickname remains permanently connected to him.
However, Boston himself has become much more comfortable with it. He has appeared in interviews discussing the meme and his experience with internet fame.
In recent years he has also been revisited by meme-history channels and publications because Scumbag Steve remains one of the most recognizable early internet memes.
A 2024 interview with Boston revisited what happened after his image went viral and allowed him to discuss his experience in his own words.
That is important because the story is no longer simply about a teenager whose photograph was stolen by internet culture.
It is also about a man who eventually learned how to live with an identity the internet gave him.
What Is Blake Boston Doing Now?
There is considerably less reliable public information about Boston’s day-to-day life than there was during the height of the meme. That is not surprising.
Boston was never a traditional celebrity who needed to remain in the public eye. His fame came from a single photograph rather than a long-running entertainment career.
Public appearances and interviews have become occasional rather than constant.
Recent coverage continues to identify him as the real person behind Scumbag Steve. Know Your Meme’s 2025 retrospective is one of the more recent detailed looks at his post-meme story.
Online discussions also occasionally bring him back into the spotlight when people revisit classic memes from the 2010s.
However, social media discussions should not be treated as reliable evidence about his private life.
In other words, Blake Boston is still around but he is no longer living at the center of meme culture.
And that may be exactly what he wanted.
I’m so fucking sick of pages posting false death news! Fucking losers!!!!
— ScumBAG STEVE (REAL) (@BlakeBoston617) October 16, 2025
Stats Table
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full name | Blake Boston |
| Internet nickname | Scumbag Steve |
| Known for | The Scumbag Steve meme |
| Birthplace/area | Massachusetts, United States |
| Famous photograph | Taken in 2006 |
| Age when photo was taken | 16 |
| Meme breakthrough | 2011 |
| Original image source | Photograph taken by his mother |
| Main meme platforms | Reddit and other early social media communities |
| Music | Pursued rap under the Scumbag Steve identity |
| Major internet appearances | SXSW and ROFLCon |
| NFT involvement | Scumbag Steve NFT reportedly sold for about $57,000 |
| Current public status | Occasional interviews and appearances rather than mainstream celebrity |
| Best known as | The real-life face behind Scumbag Steve |
How Did the Scumbag Steve Meme Start?
The Scumbag Steve meme became popular around January 2011 during the peak of the “Advice Animals” era.2
At the time, meme culture was dominated by recognizable images that represented specific personalities or situations.
Images were often paired with large Impact-font captions that created a simple setup and punchline. Boston’s photograph was perfect for that format.
His backwards cap, fur-lined coat and expression created a distinctive look.
Internet users quickly turned him into an exaggerated stereotype of the unreliable or selfish friend.
The meme could describe almost anything. Someone borrowing something and never returning it could become a Scumbag Steve joke.
A person taking advantage of a friend could become a Scumbag Steve joke. Someone behaving selfishly could be represented by the same image.
The photograph became a visual shorthand. Know Your Meme traces the early spread of the image to posts on Reddit in January 2011.
The meme then spread through other online communities and became one of the recognizable faces of the early meme era.
The important point is that Boston did not create Scumbag Steve. The internet did.
When Did Blake Boston Discover He Was a Meme?
Boston did not initially understand what was happening.
He had never expected a photograph from his teenage years to become a worldwide internet joke.
When he discovered that people were using his picture, he was reportedly confused by the sudden activity surrounding his name and image.
The experience was especially strange because the internet was assigning him a personality that he had not created.
People were seeing the photograph and reading captions about a fictional character. Boston was seeing his own face attached to jokes about bad behavior.
That difference between the real person and the meme became central to his story. His early reaction was not simply excitement. He wanted the images removed.
Some of his initial responses were angry and emotional. Ironically, that reaction became part of the entertainment for some internet users and helped keep the meme in circulation.
The situation demonstrated one of the earliest problems of viral internet fame.
Once an image becomes popular online, the person in the photograph can lose control over it.
Why Was the Meme So Successful?
Scumbag Steve worked because the image was easy to understand. You did not need to know Blake Boston to understand the joke.
The clothing and facial expression created an instantly recognizable character. The captions then supplied the personality.
That made the meme highly adaptable. The character could represent almost any stereotypical bad friend. It did not require a complicated setup or knowledge of a particular movie or television show.
The meme also appeared at the right time. In the early 2010s, Reddit, Facebook, Tumblr and other social platforms were rapidly spreading image-based humor.
Memes were becoming a shared language across the internet. Scumbag Steve became part of that culture.
WBUR later described Scumbag Steve as one of the original memes in which a real human became the central face of a fictional internet character.
That distinction helped make Boston’s story different from a fictional meme character such as a cartoon. There was a real person behind the image.
Was Blake Boston Actually a Scumbag?
This was one of the biggest misconceptions created by the meme. The answer is more complicated than the joke.
Boston’s personality and lifestyle at the time contained some similarities to the fictional character.
In a 2012 profile published by The Boston Globe, Boston acknowledged that some aspects of the meme hit close to home.
He was young, living with his parents and trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. But that does not mean that the internet’s version of Scumbag Steve was an accurate biography.
The meme exaggerated everything. That is how memes work.
A person may have a particular expression or style that inspires a fictional personality. Internet users then build an entire character around it.
Boston eventually learned to separate the character from himself. That became an important part of his ability to live with the fame.
How Did His Family React?
The meme also affected Boston’s family.
According to accounts from Boston and his mother, the sudden attention was disturbing at first. His mother had taken the original photograph without knowing it would become a global meme years later.
She was reportedly upset when she discovered how the photograph was being used.
The story became even more complicated because Boston had been adopted.
His mother worried about how his birth mother might interpret the image and the negative personality attached to it.
That illustrates how different viral fame can feel when the person involved never asked for it.
For viewers, Scumbag Steve was a joke. For Boston’s family, the image represented their actual son.
WBUR’s 2021 episode about the story explored the impact the meme had on Boston and his family in much greater depth.
The program went beyond the meme’s origin and discussed how internet fame intersected with difficult personal experiences in Boston’s life.
Did Blake Boston Try to Stop the Meme?
Yes. At first Boston wanted websites to stop using his image.
That reaction is understandable. Imagine waking up one day and discovering that thousands of strangers had turned a photograph of you into a symbol for everything they considered obnoxious or dishonest.
The problem was that removing the image was practically impossible. The meme had already been copied across the internet.
Every time one version disappeared another could appear somewhere else.
Boston’s attempts to fight the meme also became part of the online story. Eventually he realized that the meme was not going away.
That was when his attitude began to change.
Instead of trying to completely escape Scumbag Steve, he started considering whether he could control the character and benefit from the attention.
How Did Blake Boston Embrace Scumbag Steve?
Boston eventually began embracing his unexpected celebrity. By 2012 he was appearing at internet events and meeting people who recognized him in public.
The Boston Globe reported that Boston had reached a point where he could laugh about the situation and even pose for photographs with people who recognized him as Scumbag Steve.
He also explored opportunities to turn the meme into a career.
Boston had an interest in music and attempted to develop a rap career under the name Blake Boston AKA Scumbag Steve.
In 2012 he released a rap single and performed the “Scumbag Steve Overture” at ROFLCon alongside other internet personalities.
His appearances showed how the early meme economy was beginning to turn internet jokes into real-world entertainment.
This was an early version of something that later became normal. Today creators can build entire careers from viral moments.
Back then, the idea of turning a meme into a personal brand was still relatively new.
Did Scumbag Steve Become a Rapper?
For a period, Boston seriously explored music.
His meme fame gave him an audience that most aspiring musicians would struggle to obtain. He tried to use that attention to promote his music and perform for internet audiences.
His music career did not turn into a major mainstream success.
However, the attempt itself is important because it shows how Boston tried to take control of his unexpected fame.
Instead of remaining only the face of jokes created by strangers, he wanted to become an active participant in the character’s popularity.
His music efforts were documented by outlets covering internet culture at the time.
The story was also tied to his appearances at events such as SXSW and ROFLCon.
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What Happened to Scumbag Steve After the Meme Peak?
The biggest change was simple. The internet moved on.3
Scumbag Steve remained recognizable but the constant attention surrounding the meme eventually faded. This happens to almost every viral meme.
A meme can dominate the internet for months and then suddenly become part of internet history.
New formats replace old ones. New social platforms become popular. New creators become famous.
But Boston did not disappear. He continued to participate in interviews and occasionally returned to the conversation about meme culture.
Know Your Meme published a detailed “Where Are They Now?” feature in June 2025 that revisited Boston’s story and examined what happened after his initial viral fame.
The article noted that Boston eventually learned to handle his meme identity rather than simply trying to erase it.
That is probably the best way to describe his post-meme life. He became less of a celebrity and more of an internet-culture figure.
Blake Boston and the NFT Era
One of the more surprising chapters in the Scumbag Steve story came during the NFT boom.
In 2021, Boston became involved with the sale of a Scumbag Steve NFT. The meme’s digital collectible reportedly sold for around $57,000.
For someone whose teenage photograph had originally been turned into a meme without his control, the development was remarkable.
The internet had gone from copying his image for free to treating the original meme as a digital collectible with monetary value.
A 2021 report from Memebase highlighted Boston’s NFT sale and his changing relationship with the meme.
The NFT boom eventually cooled but the episode demonstrated how much internet culture had changed since 2011.
In the early meme era, Boston had struggled to control an image of himself. A decade later, he was participating in a market built around digital ownership and internet culture.
Why Did Blake Boston’s Story Become So Important?
The story matters because it captures a major turning point in internet culture.
Before social media became a serious career path, people could become famous simply because someone uploaded a photograph.
There was no management team. There was no content strategy. There was no carefully planned personal brand.
There was just a photograph. Boston’s experience showed both sides of viral fame.
On one side was opportunity. He gained recognition, appeared at events, pursued music and eventually explored ways to monetize the meme.
On the other side was a lack of control. The internet decided what his face represented.
That is an important lesson that remains relevant today. The difference is that modern creators are often prepared for virality.
They understand social media algorithms and personal branding. Boston became famous before most people understood what going viral really meant.
What Makes Scumbag Steve Still Memorable?
There are thousands of memes from the early 2010s that have almost completely disappeared.
Scumbag Steve remains recognizable because the image is so distinctive.
The backwards cap. The fur-lined coat. The doorway. The expression.
All of those elements combined to create a character that could be understood without explanation.
The meme also represented a universal idea. Everyone has encountered the selfish friend.
Everyone has known someone who takes advantage of other people. That made Scumbag Steve easy to reuse.
The joke was not really about Blake Boston. It was about a personality type.
That is why the image survived even after many of the original captions disappeared from mainstream internet culture.
Did Blake Boston Make Money From the Meme?
Eventually, yes, although it is difficult to establish his total earnings from Scumbag Steve.
He pursued different opportunities connected to the meme, including merchandise, public appearances, music and later an NFT.
The 2012 Boston Globe profile described Boston’s attempts to capitalize on his unexpected fame.
The later NFT sale provided another example of the financial opportunities that emerged around his image. Memebase reported the sale at approximately $57,000.
However, it would be misleading to suggest that Boston became wealthy simply because his photograph became a meme.
Internet virality does not automatically translate into financial security.
The meme was used by countless people and websites. Boston had to actively find ways to turn his unexpected recognition into opportunities.
What Happened to the Original Scumbag Steve Hat?
The hat became an important part of the meme’s identity.
Boston’s original photograph showed him wearing a Red Sox cap with a flat brim. According to historical accounts, the specific hat was relatively uncommon.
Boston reportedly turned down offers for the original hat worth tens of thousands of dollars during the early years of the meme.
That detail shows just how valuable objects connected to internet culture could become.
The hat was not famous because it was an expensive designer item. It became valuable because the internet had attached meaning to it.
Without the photograph, it was simply a hat.
With the photograph, it became part of the visual identity of one of the most recognizable memes of its generation.
Did Blake Boston Ever Regret Becoming Scumbag Steve?
His feelings changed over time.
In the beginning, the attention was overwhelming and embarrassing. Boston did not choose the nickname and did not create the character.
As time passed, he became more comfortable with the situation.
By 2012 he had learned to embrace people recognizing him in public. He could joke about it and use the attention to pursue his own projects.
That does not mean the experience was always positive. The deeper accounts of Boston’s life show that becoming a meme had consequences beyond the jokes.
WBUR’s reporting in particular explored the effect the meme had on his family and personal life.
The more complete story is therefore not “guy becomes famous and loves it.”
It is a story about someone learning to live with a public identity that was created without his permission.
Is Scumbag Steve Still Popular in 2026?
Scumbag Steve is no longer a dominant daily meme in the way it was during the early 2010s.
However, the image remains recognizable and continues to appear in meme compilations, nostalgia posts and discussions about classic internet culture.
The continued interest in Boston also shows that people are increasingly curious about the real people behind old memes.
As internet culture matures, there is a growing fascination with the question:
What happened to the people whose faces became famous before they had any idea what internet fame meant?
Scumbag Steve is one of the clearest examples. The meme is old. The story behind it remains interesting.
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FAQ’s
Who is Scumbag Steve in real life?
Scumbag Steve is the internet nickname associated with Blake Boston, a Massachusetts man whose teenage photograph became a viral meme in 2011.
How old was Blake Boston when the Scumbag Steve photo was taken?
Boston was 16 years old when the photograph was taken in 2006.
Who took the original Scumbag Steve photograph?
The photograph was taken by Boston’s mother, Susan Boston, at their home.
When did the Scumbag Steve meme become popular?
The meme became popular in January 2011 after Boston’s photograph spread through online communities including Reddit.
Was Blake Boston really a scumbag?
Not in the exaggerated sense portrayed by the meme. Scumbag Steve was a fictional character created by internet users around Boston’s photograph.
Conclusion
The story of Scumbag Steve is much bigger than a funny picture of a teenager in a backwards cap.
The face behind the meme is Blake Boston, and his story shows what viral fame looked like before becoming an established part of the creator economy.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the story is that Blake Boston eventually became more than the character the internet created.
Today, when people ask “What happened to Scumbag Steve?”, the answer is simple: the meme became history but Blake Boston continued living his life beyond it.
And that is what makes the Scumbag Steve story one of the most memorable chapters in the history of internet memes.
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