Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2025, Angel Reese stepped onto the catwalk not only with angel wings but also with an “unprecedented” night: **the first professional athlete in history to catwalk for Victoria’s Secret**. A WNBA star swapped her competition shoes for high heels, changed the name of the race for headlights – the art was enough to be a “fairy tale of the social media era”.
But just a few hours after the show ended, the story took a turn… very Internet. Instead of just compliments, social media began to be flooded with memes, in which the most prominent trend was to put Angel Reese’s image on the catwalk next to the character **Sid – the sloth in Ice Age**, attached with a caption comparing her face, standing style, even the way she swings her arms when walking. Collages, GIFs, and edited clips appeared sharply on X, TikTok, Instagram Reels.
For some netizens, this is simply “joking for fun”, a type of Internet meme that is all too familiar: seeing someone who looks like a cartoon character, they immediately join the trend. Some accounts even commented like: *“From the football field to the catwalk, Sid also upgraded terribly”*; or added Ice Age music to Reese’s catwalk clip. On this side, they think that **“whoever is famous will automatically be trolled”**, and memes are part of the “fame tax” that public figures have to pay.
But on the other side, many people – especially sports fans and body-positive fans – are clearly starting to get annoyed. They point out that memes do not stop at the ability to “laugh”, but are sliding into **body-shaming**, scrutinizing every facial feature, smile, and teeth of a woman of color just because she does not have the traditional “skinny – small – perfect” beauty style. In the context of Victoria’s Secret trying to build a new, more diverse image in fashion and background, the fact that a woman relaxed into a game of physical jokes right after making history makes many people feel paradoxical.
Angel Reese is no stranger to the spotlight. From NCAA singing WNBA, from magazine covers, advertising contracts to becoming **new fashion icon** with the special “Bayou Barbie”, she is used to both praise and criticism. But the catwalk at Victoria’s Secret is a dream she has cherished since childhood, something she practices every week with a catwalk coach, a “full circle” moment when the girl who used to sit in the audience now steps out on the floor with official wings.
Therefore, the fact that all of her efforts are reduced to a meme comparing her to a cartoon character with a “weird” appearance easily makes many people feel unfair on her behalf. Although Reese has not made a direct and lengthy statement about this trend, it is not difficult to imagine the feeling of a person who has just reached a major milestone in her career and immediately faced a wave of appearance mode. Many fans spoke up to defend: *“She broke the limit between sports and fashion, it should be about history, not about beauty like this.”*
The story of Angel Reese – Victoria’s Secret – “Sid Ice Age” meme is therefore not just a one-night drama. It goes into a larger question: **Where is the line between humor and insult?** When the main character is a young, black, female, trying to both “bear” the pressure of competition and make a way in the exhausted fashion industry, are jokes about appearance still harmless as many people justify?
As a result, it is true that the Internet will always do what the Internet always does: turn every viral moment into a meme. But amid the storm of “she looks like Sid” comments, there’s another wave of noise: a wave of recognition that **Angel Reese isn’t just a meme, she’s a spine** – proof that an athlete can still walk the prestigious stage, carrying her story, care, and confidence. And perhaps that’s what should “storm” the newsfeed for a long time, not a few malicious collages.
