A FAMILIAR MEME. A NEW CONTEXT.

Bari Alibasov and “Krot”

What this meme means

In early June 2019, producer Bari Alibasov mistakenly drank “Krot” (literally “Mole”), a Russian household drain cleaner, and ended up in intensive care. The story quickly turned into a meme that mocks both the absurdity of the incident and the relatives' subsequent lawsuit against the manufacturer.

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What actually happened

On the evening of June 4, 2019, Bari Alibasov felt unwell after drinking liquid from a bottle kept in his home. According to his relatives and family lawyers, the producer mistook a container of “Krot,” a caustic drain cleaner for sewer pipes, for a bottle of juice or yogurt; the packaging did look like an ordinary drink container. Alibasov was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with a chemical burn to the esophagus and stomach. He spent several days in intensive care, part of that time on a mechanical ventilator.

Meanwhile, the press discussed other versions of events. Medical sources commented on the severity of his condition and the possible consequences for his internal organs, and media reports said traces of psychotropic substances had been found in Alibasov's body, which fueled public interest in the details.

The lawsuit against the manufacturer

After his discharge, Alibasov's relatives said they intended to sue the maker of “Krot,” arguing that the packaging misleads buyers and does not warn clearly enough about the danger of the contents. Media reports cited a claim of up to 100 million rubles. Alibasov himself later attended court hearings in person and explained his objections to the bottle's labeling.

The lawsuit was unsuccessful: the court refused to award the claimed sum, finding the plaintiffs' arguments insufficient. It was the combination of a serious incident and what looked like an excessive reaction, a multimillion-ruble lawsuit, that became fuel for the jokes that followed.

How the story became a meme

Internet users noticed the contrast between the tragedy and the absurdity of the explanation: that an experienced producer supposedly could not tell an aggressive cleaning product from a drink. This sparked a wave of jokes. Photos of Alibasov were captioned with remarks about bottles of dangerous liquid, and the story was retold as an anecdote about bad luck and carelessness.

A separate source of memes were the press photos and videos of the producer after the poisoning, in which he looked tired and disoriented. These were also cropped into stills for joke edits. Such material sits on the edge of ethical use, however, and was mostly commented on with restraint, without mocking his health.

Typical captions and formats

The meme most often takes the form of a photo of a smiling Alibasov (including a formal portrait shot) with an ironic caption about drinks and dangerous liquids in the kitchen. Users write variations such as “When you grab the wrong bottle from the fridge” or “The main thing is to read the label, not rely on the cap color,” playing on the mix-up itself rather than on the performer's health.

Comparison formats also appear. Next to a portrait of the producer, the “Krot” packaging is placed with the caption “find 10 differences from yogurt,” a play on the “spot the 10 differences” puzzle format and a reference to the family's official version of what caused the tragedy.

Why the meme caught on

The Alibasov case fit well into the format of internet humor: a real event, widely covered in the news, came with an official explanation so implausible that it became a source of irony in itself. The person's public profile added to the resonance. He is a long-time producer of the pop group Na-Na and a regular in society gossip columns, and had often been discussed in the media before. The audience was therefore ready to read the new story as part of the familiar image of an eccentric showman.

Over time the meme stopped being tied to the specific details of the “Krot” case and became a general reference to absurd household mishaps and the dubious explanations offered by those involved.