Overview

Adam Levine Cheating Scandal refers to allegations in September 2022 that Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine cheated on his wife, Victoria's Secret model Behati Prinsloo, with Instagram model Sumner Stroh and others. Levine later admitted to having flirtatious conversations with women over Instagram DMs but denied having an affair. The allegations sparked condemnations of Levine on social media, as well as jokes and memes about his flirtatious texts, particularly the messages "I may need to see the booty" and "That body of yours is absurd."

Background

On September 19th, 2022, Instagram model Sumner Stroh posted a TikTok alleging that she had had a year-long affair with Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine and that Levine had asked her if he could name his child after her. The TikTok^[1] gained over 1.4 million likes in two days.

Developments

The following day on September 20th, 2022, Levine admitted to speaking to women "in a flirtatious manner" but asserted he "did not have an affair." He did, however, say in some instances he "crossed the line." He posted the statement to his Instagram Story (shown below) and gave a similar statement to TMZ.^[2]

After Levine's statement, other women came forward with screenshots of DMs that Levine had purportedly sent them. Instagram user Maryka posted to her Story a screenshot of Levine asking her to "distract" herself "by fucking with me!" The video was posted on September 20th to TikTok by user @amakanumberone, receiving over 97,000 likes in roughly 24 hours (shown below).

Instagram user @IGFamousByDana posted further messages Levine allegedly sent to Maryka in which he complimented her "hourglass figure" and said, "I may need to see the booty" (shown below). Another model, Alyson Rosef, said that Levine messaged her calling her "hot."^[2]

Online Reactions

After Stroh's allegation on September 19th, 2022, many social media users condemned Levine for seeming to cheat on his wife, though some also condemned Stroh for appearing to act like the victim in the situation. For example, on September 19th, Twitter user @kdr1897^[3] posted, "not only did adam levine have an affair but he tried to name the baby he’s having with his WIFE after the MISTRESS??? hell is too kind for this man," gaining over 28,000 retweets and 338,000 likes in two days (shown below, left). That same day, Twitter user @sonnyrose31^[4] posted, "Adam Levine is dead wrong for what he did, but this girl needs to take accountability. One google search would’ve shown he was married, so I don’t understand how he manipulated you into an affair for a year? Only victim is the wife and children. Like bffr," gaining over 1,800 retweets and 17,000 likes in the same amount of time (shown below, right).

Related Memes

I May Need To See The Booty

Once Levine's alleged DMs from Maryka went public, social media began posting jokes about Levine's flirtatious DMs, particularly when Levine texted her, "I may need to see the booty." On September 20th, 2022, Twitter user @clairempls^[5] joked, "i think we can all agree that 'i may need to see the booty' is something we should carry with us from this adam levine scandal, it is truly a gift and we need to incorporate it into the lexicon," gaining over 30 retweets and 420 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). Also that day, Twitter user @Jammy2560^[6] posted a picture of Barbosa from Pirates of the Caribbean with "I may need to see the booty," gaining over 350 retweets and 10,000 likes in the same timeframe (shown below, right).

That Body of Yours Is Absurd

One of the sexts Levine sent said, "Holy fuck. Holy fucking fuck. That body of yours is absurd." This led to an exploitable meme template in which people made it appear Levine was responding to a comical image. Examples include a tweet by @looooooogaaaaan^[7] which used a picture of Danny Devito as "The Trash Man" from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, gaining over 770 retweets and 7,800 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). User @brittymigs^[8] posted an edit that used a picture of naked Hank Hill, gaining over 720 retweets and 9,200 likes in a similar time frame (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References