Photos Of World Leaders Awkwardly Posing At G7 Inspired A Lot Of Jokes, Including From Queen Elizabeth Herself

Right now world leaders are convening for the annual G7 summit. Those who run the globe’s top seven “world economies” are in Cornwall, England hashing it out over Big Topics. And after last year, they have more to discuss than usual: health care, climate change, and, of course, the ongoing pandemic. They’ll be able to get so much more done now that the guy who was usually otherwise occupied is no longer there. But so far the big takeaway, at least on social media, is this: Boy, did that “family” photo they took look awkward.

The image finds the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States perched on a beach, with Boris Johnson and Joe Biden front and center. As the pandemic is not yet over, they’re social distancing, not lumped in one big pile. It makes sense. But they all look impossibly stiff, unsmiling, not terribly happy to be there.

Granted, better stiff than painful. The three summits that were held during the Trump administration (the one last year was cancelled, for obvious reasons) was even more awkward than this one, with clear disdain for the then-American president emanating from the other six leaders. (There’s also that instant classic photo from a few years back, in which everyone looks like they’re yelling at Trump, who sits there, arms crossed, oblivious to the scorn he elicits.)

Still, lots of people had jokes about the 2021 family photo, among them late night hosts.

Even Queen Elizabeth had a crack about the lifeless photo, joking, “Are you supposed to be looking as if you’re enjoying yourself?”

Anyway, hopefully they get stuff done, especially now that America once again has an adult in charge.