EXCLUSIVEOur 悪口を言う／悪態 of the skinny ジーンズs: The lads branded 'stupid' and '人種差別主義者' over an innocent photo 反映する on how going viral changed their lives. And why, にもかかわらず 存在 的d by a hate 暴徒, they're still proud to be British

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On July 6, 2019, four friends in their 中央の-twenties from the Midlands met up in Birmingham for a night on the town.

Two of them, Alex Lacey, a plumber, and Jamie Phillips, had known each other since going to the same 明言する／公表する school in Coventry. Jamie and Kevin Rooney met through working together in the car 産業. The fourth, tattoo artist Connor Humpage, got to know them 経由で their 株d love of the gym.

As they made their way out, they asked a passer-by to take a photo of them in their finery - skinny ジーンズs so short that might 誘発する your grandmother to ask 'why don't you put some jam on your shoes and 招待する your trousers to tea?', tattoos on 陳列する，発揮する and tans topped up with a sunbed or two - outside an All 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 One. The drinks and banter flowed as they 攻撃する，衝突する a couple of other 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs, before the four went home around midnight.

The photo that 誘発するd the 乱用. Alex Lacey, Jamie Phillips, Kevin Rooney and Connor Humpage in their tight trousers, 提起する／ポーズをとるing outside All 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 One on a night out

?Connor Humpage, a tattoo artist, with his fiancee Chloe Rogers, an 内部の designer

The 星／主役にするs of the 'four lads in ジーンズs' meme have been immortalised with a statue 近づく the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the 初めの photo was taken?

The next day, Kevin uploaded the photo to Instagram with the caption: 'We give (sic) Brum a good go last night!' Connor also 地位，任命するd it on his Instagram, joking: 'Tight trousers chose us'.

It was just the sort of picture that thousands of people have taken and 株d after a night out; a snap that is 'liked' by their friends then forgotten about. The four never imagined what was about to happen - or how 抱擁する an 衝撃 that innocent photo would have on their lives.

A few months later, it was somehow 選ぶd up by a viral Facebook page and memes - a 肉親，親類d of internet joke - of them - dubbed 'four lads in ジーンズs' - spread 世界的な. Incidentally, only two of them - Kevin and Connor - were 現実に wearing denim.

But such minor 詳細（に述べる）s were the least of their worries. In the troll-filled 苦境に陥る of social マスコミ, the four soon became 的s of unimaginable levels of unprompted hate.

First, they were mocked for their fashion sense, which they didn't mind. They could even laugh about it. Anyway, skinny ジーンズs were in vogue when the photo was taken - but those commenting didn't see the picture until the に引き続いて year.

Then things took a darker turn. As the pandemic and lockdowns took 持つ／拘留する in 2020, keyboard 軍人s with too much time on their 手渡すs went into overdrive.

Based 単独で on their 外見, they stereotyped them as a 確かな genre of young, white, British man.

They were cruelly and 不公平に みなすd to be 薄暗い, shallow, self-obsessed 'divs' and 'Love Island' wannabes who held dumb or obnoxious 見解（をとる）s.?

It reached its nadir when a meme (since 削除するd) was 循環させるd 言及／関連ing the 殺人 of George Floyd and the その後の 黒人／ボイコット Lives 事柄 抗議するs. 'It's sad what 'appened to that 黒人／ボイコット geezer in America but all this 暴動ing and 略奪するing is just not on, mate,' read a caption above the picture of the four lads, a made-up 引用する 誤って せいにするd to them joking about the stereotypical reaction of young white British men to the BLM movement.

They started getting messages baselessly 告発する／非難するing them of 存在 人種差別主義者s, and were even sent messages encouraging them to commit 自殺.

What made it harder to 対処する with was that at the time they had plenty of real-life 問題／発行するs on their minds - not that anyone on social マスコミ gave a damn about that.

Alex had just 始める，決める up his own 商売／仕事, Connor was grieving after the death of his father from 癌 at the age of just 54 and Kevin had recently become a dad.

Former 競争の激しい bodybuilder Alex was 攻撃する，衝突する the hardest by it and became 'very depressed'. Although he is 5ft 11in, trolls 的d him for looking short in the picture - the other three lads are all over 6ft 3in. He received いたずら calls to his work 動きやすい. The haters even left messages on his mother's social マスコミ 説 she should be ashamed of him.

At the start of 2021, however, the tide turned and a new meme became popular, whi ch made the boys look like they were singing a popular sea shanty. A Twitter 使用者 株d a 'deepfake' ビデオ of the group singing 'Wellerman' by Scottish singer Nathan Evans, that went viral on TikTok at the end of 2020.

Attention 転換d away from the horrific George Floyd meme, and just like that, the 汚い comments faded away. In the fickle world of social マスコミ, all was forgotten, and now everyone was laughing along with the boys.

In a wise move, the four （機の）カム out in public to show that they were decent blokes who knew how to laugh at themselves. They got a 経営者／支配人 and appeared at the Brit Awards in their skinny trousers, joining host Jack Whitehall in a skit. The comedian, also wearing tight ジーンズs, joked: 'I'm going to get the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 旅団 to 削減（する） us out.'

They did a 小旅行する appearing in nightclubs and 調印するd 商業の 取引，協定s with a 急速な／放蕩な-food chain and a drinks company. A statue of them was even 築くd outside the All 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 One where it all began for the Birmingham Weekender arts festival in 2022.

Most importantly, however, they have been 伴う／関わるd in （選挙などの）運動をするs around online 乱用 and mental health, with more planned for this summer.

And recently, nearly five years on from the photo that 誘発するd this 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の saga, Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre asked the four lads to 参加する its style 追跡（する） （選挙などの）運動をする and they 選ぶd out what they liked and 提起する／ポーズをとるd for a photograph in an updated look - now 冒険的な on-傾向 baggy ジーンズs and 貨物 pants.?

But it isn't just the trousers that have been a'changin' since that night out. Things have changed for the 'four lads in ジーンズs', as the Mail discovered when we spoke to them this week...

ALEX LACEY

Alex Lacey, a former 競争の激しい bodybuilder, who runs his own plumbing and heating engineer 商売／仕事, with his fiancee Kerrie Cook. The couple are 予定 to marry next month

Alex with Kerrie after she gave birth to Lily Rose, which opened a new 一時期／支部 in their lives

Alex's fiancee Kerrie Cook, a 国内の 乱用 support 労働者, helped him through his darkest moments

Alex Lacey, 29, lives in Coventry with his fianc?e Kerrie Cook, 34, a 国内の 乱用 support 労働者. They have a two-month-old daughter, Lily Rose, and are 予定 to marry next month - with the other three lads as groomsmen.

The couple's 関係 had already begun when the 2019 photo was taken and Alex had recently 始める，決める up his own plumbing and heating 工学 商売／仕事.

The son of a Jaguar Land Rover 労働者 father and receptionist mother, he credits Kerrie with helping him through his lowest moments during the trolling. 'She was my 激しく揺する,' he said. 'I'm a の近くにd 調書をとる／予約する as a person and tried to ignore it, but there was a time where I broke and she was there to help me up'.

He was left in a 'very, very dark place' by the 乱用 and 一時的に （機の）カム off social マスコミ as a result.

He rails against the stereotype their image was せいにするd to. 'I'm just a normal lad who enjoys the 時折の night out with the boys. I'm proud to be British. I like the King and admired the late Queen.

'There's a 後退，不況 on, everyone's struggling, everyone's the same. If there's one thing I could change about Britain, it'd be keyboard 軍人s. They don't realise the 影響 they can have on people's mental health.'

Alex, who 提案するd to Kerrie in 2021, said he had been approached to appear on Love Island, but, unsurprisingly, turned it 負かす／撃墜する.

CONNOR HUMPAGE

?Connor, with fiancee Chloe Rogers, opened his own tattoo studio in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, in 2021

Connor, on holiday with Chloe, took a stand on に代わって of the boys. His father 示す died 老年の 54 from 癌 just as the memes were at their 高さ

Connor Humpage, 31, met his fiance Chloe Rogers, 30, just before the March 2020 lockdown when the 初めの meme was beginning to 循環させる.

He took a stand on に代わって of the four lads over the George Floyd meme, 地位，任命するing on social マスコミ: 'To 明らかにする, this meme is by no means our 見解（をとる）s.'

The arty couple met just before the March 2020 lockdown and he 提案するd to her in August last year in Costa Rica where he had taken on holiday for her birthday.

Together, they bought a 半分-detached house in Coventry and have been renovating it for the last two years.

He has preferred 製図／抽選 to sport since he was a child, and left school after sixth form with 最高の，を越す grades in art. He started a 創立／基礎 course in art and design at Coventry University, but dropped out after not enjoying parts of it.

The tattoo studio he owns is touchingly 指名するd 'Making 示すs' in honour of his father 示す, a 建設業者, who died 老年の 54 from 癌 in November 2019.

'When those memes were going around I was still grieving,' says Connor. 'My 長，率いる wasn't in a good place.

'In the end, it all gave me the 運動 to 始める，決める up my own 商売／仕事. I tried to turn it all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する into a 肯定的な.

'It baffles me why anyone would want to troll anyone. You can only hope that one day they will have a wake-up call because of something major happening in their lives that makes them realise it's not 許容できる.'

The silver lining for Connor, who has tattooed both Alex and Jamie, is that his studio has enjoyed a にわか景気 in 商売／仕事 予定 to his ありそうもない social マスコミ fame.

KEVIN ROONEY

The most happy-go-lucky of the four, Kevin Rooney 結局 gave up looking at social マスコミ to get on with his life in peace

Seemingly the most happy-go-lucky of the four, Kevin Rooney, 33, lives in Solihull, West Midlands and has a five-year old daught er, Ella, from a previous 関係.

Kevin, a 生産／産物 operative in the 自動推進の 産業, says: 'Just before the photo I'd been through やめる a big break-up. I've had a few little 関係s since but I'm happy. As long as I'm happy and my daughter's happy, I'm ok.'

A Birmingham City FC 支持者, he said he is 'やめる 厚い-skinned' and although he received hundreds of messages which he 'couldn't really get his 長，率いる around', he tried to ignore the trolling.

'At the start I was reading everything on Instagram and TikTok. In the end I thought, it's just going me feel s**t so I'm not going to look at it,' he said.

'People might think we look arrogant or cocky, but once they 会合，会う us and speak to us they realise we're alright. I'm a 負かす／撃墜する-to-earth person.

'I don't think you can ever get rid of trolls altogether. But the social マスコミ 壇・綱領・公約s should do more to make it easier to get 地位，任命するs taken 負かす／撃墜する when people 報告（する）／憶測 乱用.'

JAMIE PHILLIPS

Jamie Phillips is no longer on social マスコミ and doesn't want to 指名する his partner because he doesn't want to get her 伴う／関わるd in the 'rollercoaster'

井戸／弁護士席, it finally happened ? the four lads in ジーンズs 再会させるd nearly five years on from their first picture and they look so different. Most importantly, the ジーンズs got baggy

Jamie Phillips, 31, is 初めは from Coventry but now lives in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, with his fianc?e and their three-year-old son.

He is no longer on social マスコミ and doesn't want to 指名する his partner because he doesn't want to get her 伴う／関わるd in the 'rollercoaster'.

'I just want to 保護する my family,' said Jamie, who has worked at the same company as Kevin for ten years.

He's 特に upset by the meme that 暗示するd they were 人種差別主義者. 'We've experienced a lot of changes in our culture in this count ry since the George Floyd 殺人. I understand the importance of 多様制 and 傾向 in society.'

He 追加するd: 'In my 20s I was going out partying like a lot of lads do. Now I like more wholesome things, like days out with my partner and seeing my little boy grow up. When I hear him call me daddy it melts me.'

The 社債 between him Alex, Kevin and Connor remains strong. 'All the lads have hearts of gold and I 信用 them with my life,' Jamie said. 'It was a traumatic time and they are the only ones that really understand.'

And what does he think of the fateful skinny trousers now?

'I'm 納得させるd they'll come 支援する into fashion one day.'