On the morning of November 21, 2017, an extraordinary milestone was reached: the one millionth minion meme was uploaded to the internet. This was an especially impressive feat given the fact that these illiterate yellow Tic Tacs known as “minions” only entered popular media seven years ago with the release of “Despicable Me.” But while some people are celebrating this achievement, many are instead condemning it—even pushing for a declaration of a state of meme-mergency.

The format of these memes is generally very simple and unassuming, consisting of an image of 1-3 minions and a sassy quote such as “I wish my wallet came with free refills!” Until recently, in fact, the majority of Americans figured that they were relatively harmless and merely functioned as a way for Facebook moms to express their sassy, eccentric humor while coming to grips with the fact that their children never truly loved them. However, as new reports have emerged about the Russia-linked Facebook ads that may have led to Donald Trump’s election, so has evidence arisen of these minion memes being used for the same purpose. One Facebook meme found by a journalist depicted a minion waving the Confederate flag with the caption “You must be BANANAS to not vote for Trump.” Another meme portrayed a smiling minion, hands in the air, with the caption “T.R.U.M.P. = Totally Rad Upstanding Man of the People.”

Currently, the House Intelligence Committee is carrying out an investigation into the election interference, and has put out a statement saying that they hope to announce their results before the release of “Despicable Me 4.”