What's The 'Negawatt' Meme? Who Is The Guy In The Video And Where Did It Come From?

There's a strange video of a man circulating the internet as of late, in which he seems to be saying the explicit version of the word "negawatt." The white guy with a beard appears crazy, looking into the camera and reciting a slur he's not supposed to use: the n-word.

What started on Instagram a long time ago has since become a trending TikTok meme, surfacing on other video platforms like YouTube and iFunny as well. It might seem self-explanatory, but the video itself actually has an interesting origin.

Curious about where the meme came from and how it developed? Let's explain.

What Is The 'Negawatt' Meme?

Some scientists and engineers might already know what a "negawatt" is. According to the website Renewable Energy World, a negawatt is a measurement of energy that measures how much energy was theoretically saved by an energy-efficient system, with the prefix "-nega" alluding to the word "negative."

However, the Negawatt meme almost has nothing to do with the aforementioned definition. Instead, it refers to a video of a white man saying the n-word and then the word "what," phonetically sounding like "negawatt."

What Is The 'Negawatt' Original Video?

The original video was posted to Instagram sometime before September 2019, by an infamous, since-deleted, Instagram user named Frank "Seamus" Jameson. Back in the late 2010s, Jameson was a Lolcow for Instagram's hood irony community. He was seemingly schizophrenic and would do anything at the request of his cult following.

The video was first reposted to Instagram on September 16th, 2019, by a page with a rather explicit username.

Why Is The 'Negawatt' Meme Trending Today?

Since its 2019 origin, the video has been reposted across multiple websites, going viral multiple times over. Most recently, the video has gained new-found vitality on TikTok, becoming a viable TikTok sound. In turn, many users on the app now use the Negawatt sounds for nonsensical videos that play into the absurdity of the audio and the man.

For the full history of Negawatt, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.