In 2020, famed director Christopher Nolan was in a Peloton exercise bike class when the instructor started talking about his film Tenet, which, in her view, was "2.5 hours" of her life that she would never get back.

Nolan reminisced about this event yesterday during a public speech, saying:

I was on my Peloton. I’m dying. And the instructor started talking about one of my films and said, ‘Did anyone see this? That’s a couple hours of my life I’ll never get back again!'

The great director's problem is relatable. Everybody can be stung by criticism, sometimes remembering it for years, and Nolan is no exception.

But what is less relatable is the fact that internet fans of Nolan tracked down the Peloton instructor who made the remark and a recording of the class she said it in, talking about how hard Tenet was to understand in brutal, searing terms:

pic.twitter.com/C6MjCZJkmq

— Jason Koebler (@jason_koebler) January 4, 2024

Jenn Sherman, the instructor, posted a response on Instagram after Nolan's story went viral. She did not apologize but did say that she loved Oppenheimer and hopefully that's some kind of consolation for the director.

Christopher Nolan’s Peloton instructor Jenn Sherman responds with expressing her love for ‘OPPENHEIMER’ and inviting him to a class.

“I have seen ‘Oppenheimer’ twice. That’s 6 hours of my life that I don’t ever want to give back… Mr. Nolan, I’m inviting you to come for a ride… pic.twitter.com/mhZbGGeK9H

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 5, 2024

As the humorous story spread online yesterday, many posted memes and reactions about Christopher Nolan's response to being called out in the middle of an exercise class for his cerebral, often ornately complicated style of filmmaking.

Often, these memes used characters from Nolan's own oeuvre. The whole thing perhaps serves as a valuable reminder that you can always encounter famous people lurking on the internet, and if you're mean about their art, they might even remember it for years to come.