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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome

'Four lads in jeans' from viral meme discuss abuse they've received on Good Morning Britain

In the world of social media, when something goes viral it can be for good or bad.

And the attention can cause all kinds of problems.

This is what four men have discovered after a photo of them taken on a night out in Birmingham in 2019 has been plastered all over the internet again.

The image of Jamie, Connor, Kevin and Alex has been photoshopped, commented on and discussed by thousands of people.

It shows the four lads posing for the snap, all wearing super-tight trousers and a shirt.

Speaking on Monday's Good Morning Britain, the four pals, who have become known as 'four lads in jeans', discussed with Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan on how the picture came to be viral and the effect that has had.

Kevin said: "When it was taken and we uploaded it onto our Instagrams it was fine and then after three or four months we started seeing memes about us.

"It was literally just mocking us and we were getting hate, mockery for probably the last year.

"In the last week it has all turned and we're suddenly getting a lot of love."

The four lads on Good Morning Britain (ITV)

While things have changed now, and humour has taken over, there was a period of time where it was quite dark for Alex in particular.

"My work number got released and I started getting loads of prank calls," Alex told the ITV programme. "That really affected me.

'It did have a massive effect on my mental state' - Jamie, Connor, Kevin and Alex who became a viral sensation talk about their abuse online

"It did have a massive affect on my mental state to be honest."

He added: "I had to come off social media because they went into my mum's comments trolling. It wasn't nice."

However, there may now be a opportunities for the quartet off the back off the meme.

"There's definitely opportunities, so good things ahead," Alex added.

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