Wait. What? How did The Babadook become an LGBT icon?!

Released back in 2014, Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook is widely considered to be one of the very best horror films to come along in recent years. The title character, a terrifying manifestation of the female protagonist’s grief and depression, has already become something of a horror icon despite a serious lack of franchise potential, inspiring Halloween costumes and all sorts of fan art.

But today, the character was thrust into the spotlight for an unexpected reason. The Babadook, three years after the release of the film, has become an overnight sensation.

In the wake of Netflix mistakenly putting the Australian horror film into its LGBT section, the titular Babadook quickly became a viral meme across the internet today, humorously hailed as an LGBT icon and essentially becoming the unofficial spokesperson for Pride Month. At the time of writing this post, #TheBabadook is trending in one of the top spots on Twitter!

As it always does, the internet is having a field day with this whole thing. Some are confused as to how the madness even started, while others are having a blast playing along and whipping up fan art the likes of which Jennifer Kent surely never expected her debut feature to spawn – after all, The Babadook has nothing whatsoever to do with this particular subject matter.

That’s the internet for ya. What will they come up with next?!