Overview

Over 9000 Penises is a quote said by Oprah Winfrey during a segment on The Oprah Winfrey Show in which she mistakenly informed viewers of a non-existent pedophile group based on a post left by a troll on her message board.

History

On September 15th, 2008, The Oprah Winfrey Show aired an episode about internet predators.^[3] In the coming days, a post was left on the show’s now-defunct Oprah.com message boards, in which a user claimed to be part of a pedophile network, referencing both Anonymous and the meme It’s Over 9000 by saying “We do not forgive, we do not forget; our group has over 9000 penises and they are all raping children.”^[1] In the same month, on a later episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show which aired on September 19th,^[5] Oprah read the message to viewers under the belief the post was written in earnest.^[1]

“Let me read you something which was posted on our message boards from someone who claims to be a member from a known pedophile network. It said this: “He doesn’t forgive, he doesn’t forget, his group has over 9,000 penises, and they’re all raping children.” So, I want you to know, they’re organized, and they have systematic ways of hurting children, and they use the internet to do it.”

Notable Developments

Shortly after the episode’s airing, the “Over 9000 penises” segment was quickly uploaded to Youtube, where it was identified by internet users as an obvious troll. Following much mockery, Harpo Productions, Oprah’s production company, had the video taken down^[4] and removed all references to the quote on Oprah.com.^[5] Since then, the original post has most likely been lost, with the only related screen captures originating from later posts by 4chan members posting on the Oprah.com forum as a result of the episode, which eventually caused the forum to be temporarily shut down (shown below).

Nevertheless, the clip has continued to be uploaded and survived through multiple takedowns, leaving the segment readily available for editing and remixes.^[2] As early as September 19th and on the days following, various Youtube users began posting music remixes of the segment, with many combining them with the original Over 9000 meme. The earliest remix dates back to a reupload by Youtube user FixiousMaximus on September 19th (shown below), using the theme of Mortal Kombat, which gathered over 230,000 views in the following 7 years.

The scene was also shared on the r/funny sub-reddit on September 19th by user kiriyama,^[6] where it received over 1,100 upvotes prior to being archived. Likewise, various websites, forums, and blogs shared the segment and documented Oprah’s mistake; including Buzzfeed,^[7] BoingBoing,^[8] CeleBitchy,^[10] CNN,^[11] and various blogs.^[5][12]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References