--- title: Leeroy Jenkins Meme is 10 Years Old description: The World of Warcraft meme went viral after the video was uploaded in 2005 canonical: https://time.com/3855242/leeroy-jenkins-world-of-warcraft-meme/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-12T13:17:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:19:40.230Z og:title: Leeroy Jenkins Meme is 10 Years Old og:description: The World of Warcraft meme went viral after the video was uploaded in 2005 og:url: https://time.com/3855242/leeroy-jenkins-world-of-warcraft-meme/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb8bd8aa2301d0b3/6987ef5b0b72e33fbf6e1ff8/world-of-warcraft.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: An advertisement for the ''World of Warcraft'' game, produced by Activision Blizzard Inc., a video-game publishing unit of Vivendi SA, is displayed at a store in Paris, France og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Leeroy Jenkins Meme is 10 Years Old twitter:description: The World of Warcraft meme went viral after the video was uploaded in 2005 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb8bd8aa2301d0b3/6987ef5b0b72e33fbf6e1ff8/world-of-warcraft.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The World of Warcraft Leeroy Jenkins Meme is 10 Years Old > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 12, 2015 1:17 PM UTC  An advertisement for the ''World of Warcraft'' game, produced by Activision Blizzard Inc., a video-game publishing unit of Vivendi SA, is displayed at a store in Paris, France, on May 12, 2012. An advertisement for the ''World of Warcraft'' game, produced by Activision Blizzard Inc., a video-game publishing unit of Vivendi SA, is displayed at a store in Paris, France, on May 12, 2012. Fabrice Dimier—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 12, 2015 1:17 PM UTC Forty-three million [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU) hits later, the legendary World of Warcraft meme Leeroy Jenkins is now 10 years old. The meme evolved from a video of a group of WoW players planning a raid when one player, known as Leeroy Jenkins, went rogue and spoiled the raid. The video, uploaded in May 2005, went viral before “going viral” was really even a thing. It was alluded to on TV shows including _My Name is Earl_ and in movies like _Wreck-it-Ralph_. There were spinoffs on YouTube and a hit on _South Park_. And yet, one question remains—was the whole thing staged? According to the real-life Leeroy, Ben Schultz, it’s up to the viewer to decide. Check out the video below (warning: video contains strong language). 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