Press X to Doubt is a reaction image used in memes to express disbelief in a topic, comment, or headline.
The Press X to Doubt image comes from the 2011 video game L.A. Noire by Rockstar Games. The game takes place in 1947 Los Angeles, with the player in the role of Detective Cole Phelps. The actor portraying Phelps is Aaron Staton, who you might recognize as Ken Cosgrove from Mad Men.
Among the gameplay features are scenes involving Phelps questioning witnesses to various crimes. In the scenes, the witness makes a statement and the player is presented with three options: to believe the statement (“Truth”), to express doubt (“Doubt”), or to accuse the witness of straight-up lying (“Lie”). That “Doubt” screen is the origin of the Press X to Doubt meme.
The Press x to Doubt image or GIF is typically utilized when a commenter wants to express skepticism toward a statement or headline. The simple composition of the image makes it an easy shorthand for a feeling of online disbelief.
The still image of the L.A. Noire “Doubt” screen became a reaction image shortly after the release of the game, first appearing online on December 4th, 2012. Initially, the image appeared without the caption on Funnyjunk, with a comment simply written “(X) Doubt.” This is thought to be the first instance of the meme.
Throughout 2013, the image appeared on Funnyjunk several more times via various users. The meme’s purpose as a means of expressing doubt was cemented during this period. In the coming years, it appeared on Tumblr and Reddit with increased frequency. During this same period, the meme was being used in variations of Coaxed Into a Snafu, the style of poorly drawn online rage bait comics.
For instance, a post on Tumblr about Fallout 4 from user loatheoflaughing expressed skepticism about the promise of the game’s lack of loading times. This turned into a thread with several variations on Coaxed Into a Snafu, with the post garnering over 28k notes.
The Coaxed Into a Snafu edits’ popularity rendered the meme a great fit for the template Increasingly Verbose Meme, which was popular at the time. Previously existing Snafu edits were compiled by Redditor 43eyes on September 30th, 2016. The image made it appear as an Increasingly Verbose Meme and received 4700 points on the Coaxed into a Snafu subreddit.
The meme’s life continued with several variations on the template, with other characters or real-life people taking the place of Phelps.
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