--- title: Chris Christie's Beach Trip Becomes Twitter Meme Target description: Aerial shots of the Republican governor enjoying an empty beach during a government shutdown sparked a flood of memes. canonical: https://time.com/4843805/chris-christie-beach-memes/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-03T16:09:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:21:32.428Z og:title: The Internet Had Lots of Fun With Chris Christie's Beach Day og:description: The beach was closed amid a government shutdown og:url: https://time.com/4843805/chris-christie-beach-memes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca7416dfcb28f385/6988d44f656a3f588bbd0af5/chris-christie-sun-bathing-new-jersey-beach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3010 og:image:height: 1693 og:image:alt: chris-christie-sun-bathing-new-jersey-beach og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Had Lots of Fun With Chris Christie's Beach Day twitter:description: The beach was closed amid a government shutdown twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca7416dfcb28f385/6988d44f656a3f588bbd0af5/chris-christie-sun-bathing-new-jersey-beach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Internet Had a Lot of Fun With Chris Christie's Beach Outing > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3e221fe2-9f82-448a-b17c-d9914bd070e0&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Chris Christie Slammed For Sunbathing on a New Jersey Beach he Closed to the Public [Watch (HLS stream): Chris Christie Slammed For Sunbathing on a New Jersey Beach he Closed to the Public](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/r85gH0Ux.m3u8) (1:42)  _Published 2017-07-03. A social media storm is blowing around New Jersey Governor Chris Christie after photos showed him appearing to relax on a state beach with his family on Sunday. A few days earlier, Christie had closed the state's beaches and parks to the public after_ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 3, 2017 4:09 PM UTC A social media storm is blowing around New Jersey Governor Chris Christie after photos showed him appearing to relax on a state beach with his family on Sunday. A few days earlier, Christie had closed the state's beaches and parks to the public after by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 3, 2017 4:09 PM UTC New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is facing backlash online after photos emerged of him [catching some sun](http://time.com/4843762/chris-christie-beach/?xid=homepage) on a beach he closed to most visitors amid a state government shutdown. Aerial shots of the Republican governor enjoying the [empty beach](http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/07/christie%5Fpictured%5Fat%5Fisland%5Fbeach%5Fstate%5Fpark%5Fdurin.html) also sparked a flood of memes depicting Christie on a beach chair in various scenes: > [](https://twitter.com/darth/status/881727197123272704) > [](https://twitter.com/IvanTheK/status/881877055826255872) California Rep. Jack Kimble stuck the governor in a galaxy far, far away: > [](https://twitter.com/RepJackKimble/status/881882092161949696) Here’s Christie in the middle of a classic movie scene: > [](https://twitter.com/NellSco/status/881718964149243904) Christie [defended the controversial trip](http://time.com/4843720/chris-christie-beach-new-jersey-shutdown/?xid=homepage) in an interview with Good Day Philadelphia. “I’m sorry, they’re not the governor,” he said of the people who did not have access to the beach. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:10] [ MUSIC ] [00:21] [ MUSIC ] [00:32] [ MUSIC ] [00:43] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4843805/chris-christie-beach-memes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4843805/chris-christie-beach-memes/"},"headline":"The Internet Had a Lot of Fun With Chris Christie's Beach Outing","datePublished":"2017-07-03T16:09:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:21:32.428Z","description":"The beach was closed amid a government shutdown","url":"https://time.com/4843805/chris-christie-beach-memes/","keywords":["Newsfeed","New Jersey","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca7416dfcb28f385/6988d44f656a3f588bbd0af5/chris-christie-sun-bathing-new-jersey-beach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca7416dfcb28f385/6988d44f656a3f588bbd0af5/chris-christie-sun-bathing-new-jersey-beach.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"chris-christie-sun-bathing-new-jersey-beach","caption":"New Jersey Gov. 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