Ladies and Gentlemen, We Got Him

Ladies and gentlemen, we got him is a popular quote uttered by American diplomat Paul Bremer at a press conference, where he announced the apprehension of Saddam Hussein.

Online, the clip of Bremer’s quote is often paired with the Breakbot song, “Baby I’m Yours” on YouTube remixes of people being captured, often by FBI agents.

The United States captured the Iraqi dictator in the context of Operation Red Dawn, which was executed on December 13^th, 2003.

The following day, Bremer announced the capture of Saddam Hussein at press conference in Baghdad with the words “ladies and gentlemen, we got him”.

A clip of the announcement was uploaded to the YouTube channel CSpanClassics on July 10^th, 2015.

One of the first meme instances of the clip was uploaded to YouTube by krazyspongebob13 on April 19^th, 2018, featuring a news article headline, concerning the hack and deletion of Despacito.

The template video for later “Baby I’m Yours” remixes was first uploaded to YouTube by LEGEND on August 4^th, 2018, distorting the song after “ladies and gentlemen, we got him”.

The phrase would appear in YouTube ligma remixes as well as FBI raid videos.

• The Guardian – Ladies and gentlemen, we got him: the evolution of one of 2018’s best memes
• New York Intelligencer – Ladies and Gentlemen … We Got ‘Em (Memes)