back to article Welcome to the jumbo: Axl Rose tries to take a bite out of 'Fat Axl' internet meme

Legendary rocker Axl Rose has faced struggles with drink and drugs, but he may have bitten off more than he can chew with an effort to remove his own fat meme from the internet. Back in 2010, at a concert in Winnipeg, Canada, Rose appeared on stage in a red bandana and an unbuttoned shirt: traditional garb for the Guns n' …

  1. I Like Heckling Silver badge

    Missed one

    4: Get some company to send out take down notices to project himself into the collective conciousness of the internet community to give this fallen z list celeb some more attention that he so desperately craves.

    Don't hate the guy... attended 2 or 3 of their concerts in the UK... back when they were relevant and entertaining... as opposed to irrelevant and embarrassing.

    1. Bob Vistakin
      Meh

      Re: Missed one

      5 Get a high court super injunction

      The problem with that though is it's just like a candle in the wind - it's no sacrifice on todays internet where sorry seems to be the hardest word.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Missed one

        And you can take that one up the aisle and bank it

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Missed one

      6. Dump the Plump.

      From the piccies of the UK concerts he is part the way there.

      On the other hand if he chooses to continue to be gravitationally challenged, then he should make sure the Highway to Hell is a Dual Carriageway to avoid holding up the progress of the less massive of us to Hades.

      I like to get to the concert early to get a good seat!

      1. g e

        Re: Missed one

        7. Go on a damned diet

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Missed one

          > 7. Go on a damned diet

          8. Look at Fat Bob from the Cure and think it's not so bad...

      2. Rimpel

        Re: Missed one

        There is no point getting to a GnR gig early as Axl will be 3hrs late as usual.

        1. breakfast Silver badge

          Re: Missed one

          It's because of all those stairs up to the stage. A bit much work for him these days.

  2. Youngone Silver badge

    Court Case?

    Axl will lose, because of this thing called satire.

  3. hellwig

    The internet never forgets!

    .... shoot, what was I saying?

  4. Steve Crook

    Streisand rides again.

    Not heard anything about this until I read the article, and there wouldn't have been the article if Rose hadn't tried to get the stuff taken down. Doing this sort of thing is akin to poking a sleeping bear with a stick. There's only one outcome. Still, I'm sure England will provide a court and judge happy to ban it from viewing in England to protect his children from harm. He doesn't have children? His pets then...

    Will they never learn?

    Oh, of course he has another option. Lose weight.

  5. asdf

    in Axl's defense

    There aren't a lot of legal diet aids as effective as black tar heroin and the other garbage he was on in that glam 80s LA scene.

    1. Steve Crook

      Re: in Axl's defense

      You mean apart from not eating as much and moving a bit more? Always worked for me, though it's always nice to know that black tar heroin is out there if I get really really desperate....

  6. psychonaut

    this is exactly what i thought

    when the fat fucker kept us waiting for his "gnr tribute" band at Reading a few years ago. nearly 2 fucking hours he kept us waiting in a cold, wet field. needing a piss. alright, having to take a piss in the 2 litre coke bottle full of vodka and coke that you smuggled in. then throwing it at the fat bastard as "paradise city" was turned off mid flow because the fat cunt had overrun his time slot because he was too busy sleeping off the effects of lard-and-cocaine pie before the gig to actually get on stage in time. and they played lots of chinese democracy. an abomination i tell you!

    or something.

    actually, im not sure you cold sleep off lard-and-cocaine pie. maybe ive wronged him. ok, lard and lard pie. is that better? DO YOU FEEL SATED NOW AXL? jesus. eat a salad or something

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: this is exactly what i thought

      GNR tribute and called Axl you say? Choo-choo open wide, here comes the food train ;)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: this is exactly what i thought

      But didn't that make your vodka and coke taste funny?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Who's the leader of the gang that's great for you and me? *-*-*-*-A-X-L-R-O-S-E!

      @psychonaut; Thing is, Axl may be a fat **** now, but AFAICT he's always had a reputation for being late, even back in their heyday when he was a skinny ****.

      I'll note that both his "fat ****" and "skinny ****" incarnations have one thing in common. Which suggests that his lateness has less to do with his weight than with him always having been a ****. :-)

    4. noominy.noom
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: this is exactly what i thought

      Psychonaut-you owe me a keyboard.

      1. psychonaut

        Re: this is exactly what i thought

        nomity...one genuine compaq AT keyboard on its way. plenty of chow inside it too...

        ac1 -

        ac2 - yes, but to be fair i was so pissed by then that it didnt really matter. whats a little urine in your coke. its almost recycling at that stage

        ac3 - nailed it. although he wasnt late at the freedy mercury tribute. or maybe he was, and they just slotted him in somewhere else. "slotting him in" anywhere now would be require quite a hard shove i think

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As Homer Simpson said when accepting the award of master in gaining weight

    "How did you did it, Homer?"

    "I discovered a meal between breakfast and brunch"

    1. Roj Blake Silver badge

      Re: As Homer Simpson said when accepting the award of master in gaining weight

      It was all down to eating the neglected food groups such as the whipped, the congealed and the chocotastic.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    4. Do you even lift?

  9. Cameron Colley

    There aren't any "Fat Duff" memes.

    Mind you, he doesn't have a song by Elizabeth Grant about him...

  10. gypsythief

    "On the other hand, it's hard to see how laws could be devised that would protect these very rare incidents"

    Why does a new law need to be introduced to cover every slight variation of human nastiness. By creating these memes, people are slandering Axl Rose. Surely existing slander laws are sufficient to a) have the image removed by companies currently hosting it, and b) prevent it from being rehosted?

    1. veti Silver badge

      Yeah... that's not what 'slander' means.

      Or 'libel', for that matter.

    2. Steve Crook

      Slander: "the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation".

      He's indisputably fat. Therefore any statements implying it or stating it are true and not slander. What he wants is a law to prevent people from speaking a truth he doesn't want to hear...

      1. MonkeyCee

        Slander and libel

        If the statement is spoken (or is on TV/radio) it's slander. If it's written, it's libel.

        The standard defense is it's true, or a reasonable person could believe it to be true.

        So saying Axl Rose is a fat chap could be problematic. Saying he, at the point in time of this picture, was a fat chap, should be fine, legally.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Slander and libel

          In the UK truthiness is not an automatic get-out-of-paying-card in libel cases - indeed we're famous for the number of cases where someone from country A has successfully sued someone from country B over material published in country C for a large amount of money $.

          The legal fees involved are all part of our "invisible earnings" that magically reduce the size of our Balance of Payments (*) deficit.

          (*) for younger readers, the BoP was for many years *the* number used in the UK to measure economic performance, until it got just too embarrassing and was quietly sidelined in favour of the more easily adjusted GDP.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Hypocrisy, much ?

    You show us the funny pics, then add "There is a more serious side to the images of course. Fat-shaming [...]"

    Having your cake and eating it, Register ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hypocrisy, much ?

      Mmmm cake. It's like crack cocaine, only more fattening.

    2. Jedit Silver badge
      Joke

      "Having your cake and eating it, Register?"

      I think it would be more appropriate to say that like Mr Rose, the Register were having their cake and eating several other people's cakes.

      1. hplasm
        Happy

        Re: "Having your cake and eating it, Register?"

        I think it would be more appropriate to say Axl was having their cake and eating several other people's cakes.

        FTFY

        Curses- too slow...

        1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge
          Black Helicopters

          Re: Curses- too slow...

          The similarities in phrasing are spooky!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Never a cross word.

    The decision will be grist to the mill of crossword compilers and anagramatisists.

    A ruling to allow the pictures would be the reverse of the singer's wishes and would not be thought by Axl sane.

  13. chivo243 Silver badge

    He's a has been since

    His little tantrum in 1991..

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverport_Riot

    I don't care how good he was, he's a spoiled drug addict and deserves no attention now, fat, skinny or stoned...

  14. Dr Stephen Jones

    "or, more accurately, without swamping internet companies with billions of requests."

    My heart goes out to these huge tech corporations who can't seem to turn their image filters on.

  15. sixit
    FAIL

    U.S. Copyright Law Is A Bit Different

    The reason here in the U.S. that no one is minding the DCMA takedown notices is this little thing in Copyright Law called "Fair Use". Whilst in blightyland the addition of a heavy sans-serif font with sarcastic messages might not suffice to alleviate copyright claims, it's sufficient enough across the pond.

    Further, attempts to take down clear Fair Use satirical images can have a detrimental effect on the company and/or Axl Rose by means of financial penalties they could face for the improper takedown notices.

    Yes, it's sad that fat-shaming is still a thing. Yet, Mr. Rose has been a public figure for most of his life and should expect that shocked fans would take issue with his extraordinary change. At least it's pretty clear he's no longer on heroin.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: U.S. Copyright Law Is A Bit Different

      The UK also has fair use, parody, news reporting and other exceptions.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Che photo reminds me of the time I tried to buy The Onion's (it's satire folks) T shirt showing Che wearing a Che shirt; all seemed well with my order til a couple of weeks later when I got an email from them saying they couldn't now send me it as there were copyright issues sending it to the UK. Talk about sticking it to the man, man...

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He doesn't actually look that fat, just unrecognisably old?

  18. Nixinkome

    Faxl

    NOBODY came out of a concentration camp with extra avoirdupois unless they were guards and I'll never know what they may have been trying to sing,

    However, one should feel ashamed for shaming those whose metabolism may have malfunctioned or even have given up smoking.

    Yeucch ... but I can't say it's going to make me throw up either.

    1. The First Dave

      Re: Faxl

      Shaming someone for being a smoker is fine.

      Shaming someone for being a junky is fine.

      That's what _shame_ is meant for.

      Picking on someone because they are ugly, stupid, of a different race is NOT fine, which is why we have a different word for it.

      1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

        Re: Faxl

        is it ok to pick on Reality TV stars?

  19. Nixinkome

    Faxl II

    Steve Crook: Streisand rides again.

    I read your post as "...to protect his children from ham. He doesn't have children? His pets then..."

    chivo243

    Erm, I like Keef though.

    AC

    "He doesn't actually look that fat, just unrecognisably old?"

    Who? My toenails still need cutting.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He looks like a grumpy Turkish ice-cream seller actually. You will take two scoops - and like them!! No, no pistachio and raspberry stripy combo, no custom jobs, who do you think I am, Jackson Pollock? ;)

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It finally happened. The Register goes full-SJW...

    You know what's more harmful than "fat shaming"? The acceptance of being morbidly obese. In our rush to wrap everything in cotton wool and remove virtually all personal responsibility, we're embracing a sharp increase in Diabetes, heart disease and other related nasties that will ultimately overwhelm the NHS in the years to come. From my perspective, the "fat shaming" seems a much better option, particularly if it encourages people to form a more critical introspective and actually *shudder* do some of the hard work to maintain a healthy body weight.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: It finally happened. The Register goes full-SJW...

      You can wrap fat people in cotton wool all you like, but all that will happen is that you'll run out of cotton wool and they'll sweat the weight off.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It finally happened. The Register goes full-SJW...

      The Register is a schizo mix of old-style, naughty bum words lad and trendy, women-are-men SJW.

      I wish they would settle on one personality, and I suspect the former would be more honest and more in tune with their audience.

  22. TRT Silver badge

    At first I though a fat axl...

    was what you hung fat tyres on.

    Then I saw I was right.

  23. wolfetone Silver badge

    You know, you never see Axl Rose and Barbara Streisand in the same room. Do you?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Room enough?

      probably not enough space available.

  24. Omgwtfbbqtime
    Trollface

    AXL Rose?

    Oh you mean AXXXL Rose!

  25. NateGee
    Joke

    First thing that came to my mind when I searched for the memes was

    Who existed first, Fat Axl or Leigh Francis' Keith Lemon.

  26. David Nash Silver badge

    Never heard of the meme until today, thanks Axl (via the Reg).

    He should just forget about it and do all three of those options. Diet if he wants to lose weight but...never did Meat Loaf any harm did it?

  27. Stevie

    Bah!

    I only came here to see how long it would take for somone to talk about slimming down.

    Third post.

    I wish I could be there when that bloke hits late middle age and suddenly his eating habits take on a whole new dimension, exercise can become problematical and he'll have supposedly educated people claiming it's all his own fault.

    Discussion point: would that comment have gotten so many upvotes if Axl Rose was a woman?

    1. nsld

      Re: Bah!

      Sorry but thats bollocks.

      You are what you eat and do regardless of age, whilst we slow down as we get older middle age isn't particularly old and illness aside there is no excuse to turn into a sweaty ham beast.

      1. Stevie

        Re: Bah!

        "You are what you eat and do".

        Get that philosophy off a bag of Walker's Cheese'n'Onion?

        1. nsld

          Re: Bah!

          no, based on 20+ years experience as a personal trainer.

          If you fill yourself full of sugars and sit on your arse all day you will achieve your goal of making a bigger dent in the sofa, alternatively eat a sensible diet and do some exercise and you won't.

          1. Stevie

            Re: Bah!

            So I guess that makes you a bombastic overpriced "protein shake".

            Stop shouting so loud. People might think you are just drumming up business.

  28. Farmer Geddon
    Devil

    Are we sure its Mr Rose?

    I thought they were photos of Mick Hucknall 'off of' Simply Red!

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I finally had tickets to see AC/DC with the "new guy", Brian Johnston (after seeing them with Bon Scott back in the late 1970s).

    Then the show got postponed because of Brian's hearing loss. A couple of weeks ago they announced it was rescheduled with Axl Rose as singer. I was on the fence as to whether I wanted to go to that and I think this temper tantrum tells me all I need to know.

    Refund requested.

  30. Killing Time

    'Legendary rocker Axl Rose'

    ...in his own lunchtime! literally.....

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