Justin Timberlake 'It's Gonna Be May' Meme Gets A Makeover Due To Coronavirus

In recent years, the end of April has inspired many of those who use social media to share the Justin Timberlake "It's Gonna Be May" meme. Often seen on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram on the last day of April, this year's version received a special update due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

On Thursday, the "SexyBack" singer shared the new version of the meme, which features him wearing a face mask, on his Twitter account. The image, which can be seen below, was captioned "Spring Summer 2020. Thanks for this, Internet."

READ: Meme Generator 'Trained' By Users To Create New Versions Of 48 Classic Images

According to Know Your Meme, the now-familiar image was first seen on Tumblr in January 2012. At that time, it was posted by a user who went by the name of amyricha. The phrase that is seen on each image was inspired by NSYNC's 2000 song, "It's Gonna Be Me" from their "No Strings Attached" album. At a certain part of the song, Timberlake's pronunciation of "me" could be misheard as "may."

Shortly thereafter, the image was noticed by BuzzFeed, which prompted the spread of the meme. On March 16, 2012, the media company reportedly posted a photo of a calendar that featured the picture at the end of April, along with the caption "It's gonna be May." It has now been translated in countless ways and formats, which at times have even included GIFs.

Following BuzzFeed's use of the image, it began appearing in various YouTube videos in 2012 and 2013. Later, Maytag, a company known for making appliances, reworked the idea in order to create a new hashtag. On April 30, 2019, the brand started an advertising campaign with the hashtag #itsgonnabemaytag. The company's commercial for the campaign reportedly earned over 35,000 views in less than 24 hours. Prior to making its way to Timberlake, his fellow NSYNC member, Lance Bass, acknowledged the Maytag ad.