About

Alysa Liu Goonbait Discourse refers to discourse on social media regarding figure skater Alysa Liu's performance in the Winter Olympics and her celebration after her gold medal-winning victory on February 19th, 2026, specifically surrounding a photo of Liu with her tongue stuck out, holding the medal by her face. The discourse surrounds claims that Liu's expression was meant to appeal to the male gaze, aka "goonbait," with many finding the assertion ridiculous. An edited version of the image exaggerating her expression to feature an ahegao face spread online as the discourse went viral on sites like X / Twitter.

As the discourse went viral, a meme format emerged on X using the copypasta "so we're just not supposed to call this goonbait," in which the phrase is posted over an image of something that is clearly not goonbait, but may be considered as such by the same people who think Liu's facial expression is suggestive.

Origin

On February 19th, 2026, Alysa Liu won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics for figure skating.^[1][2][3] In celebration, Liu was photographed holding the gold medal up by her face with her tongue out.^[4]

On that day, X^[5] user @NewsBarron shared the image of Liu, writing, "So we’re just not supposed to call this goonbait??😭😭" garnering over 25,000 likes and 2,800 reposts in four days.

Spread

On February 20th, 2026, X^[6] user @Aliathewhite posted an edited version of the image exaggerating her expression and turning it into an ahegao face, garnering over 3,300 likes in three days.

The opinion that Liu's pose is "goonbait" was refuted by many online, who saw the opinion as a negative sign of the oversexualization of women and "alternative culture."

On February 20th, 2026, X^[7] user @sewerside4ever quoted the post, writing, "the sexualization of alternative culture has become so increasingly widespread that an olympic athlete taking a photo with her tongue out is now considered almost p-rn," garnering over 235,000 likes in four days.

"So We're Just Not Supposed To Call This Goonbait" Copypasta

As the discourse about Liu's tongue out face went viral, memes emerged on X using the phrase "so we're just not supposed to call this goonbait" over funny images that would never be considered suggestive by normal people.

On February 21st, 2026, X^[8] user @tonyhawktruther quoted a post sharing an image of Olympic breakdancer Raygun sharing the phrase, garnering over 21,000 likes in three days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References