'Riverdale' star Cole Sprouse pretentiously puffed on a cigarette during a podcast taping and now it's become a meme

• Cole Sprouse's 'Call Her Daddy' appearance has been met with a flood of reactions and memes.
• Some said that Sprouse taking a long, pontificating puff of his cigarette gave them 'the ick.'
• It's now become the go-to punchline and meme for being pretentious. 

On a divided internet, one recent event has united users: The actor Cole Sprouse smoking indoors, and taking an unnecessarily long drag of his cigarette during a recent interview, is giving people "the ick."

The moment during his "Call Her Daddy" podcast appearance on Wednesday has invited such strong adverse reactions that it's become our newest meme.

After the interview was released, user @nothnghppens shared a viral tweet that featured several clips of the actor holding, and then puffing on, his cigarette as host Alex Cooper asked him a series of questions. People immediately responded with confusion and repulsion.

—alex ???? ⁷ (@nothnghppens) March 7, 2023

 

"It's giving rich white kid pretending to be a tortured artist," reads one response from Twitter user @brittanyzapataa.

"Cole Sprouse has the energy of the worst person you met in your intro to philosophy class," added user @xoxoCorinne. 

Most people simply wondered why the "Riverdale" actor was smoking indoors.

Fans likened the interview to an early episode of "Friends" (a series in which Sprouse appeared as a child star), where Chandler teaches Joey how to look cool smoking. "This is how Cole Sprouse thinks he looks," joked user @barchiebaby.

It's now become the go-to meme for pretentious scenarios. "Me ordering an almond croissant," a viral tweet captioned the photo of the actor holding his cigarette. "White guys after saying 'it's actually really interesting because…'" another riffed.

In addition to this eyebrow-raising moment, people reacted to other revelations from his interview. Sprouse spoke about losing his virginity at 14 on a family vacation, leaving some incredulous.

Sprouse also said of his high-profile relationship with ex-girlfriend and current "Riverdale" costar Lilli Reinhart: "I think if I had loved myself a little more, I probably would have left a little earlier."

Fans found the comment strange and hurtful, given that the show is still filming.