About

Blackfamous is a slang term for a person or piece of media that is mostly popular among black people while remaining relatively anonymous among white people. The term was popularized by a tweet from The Root writer Michael Harriot and inspired a trend on Twitter in which people offered things which would fit the description.

Origin

On December 13th, 2019 Twitter user and writer Michael Harriot^[1] posted a tweet that read, "“Blackfamous” is the gap between black stardom and white anonymity. For instance: The highest possible rating on the “blackfamous” scale would be someone EVERY black person knew but was unknown by EVERY white person. So I ask: Who is the most “blackfamous” person of all time?" The tweet gained over 6,500 retweets and 28,000 likes (shown below).

Spread

The tweet inspired users to tweet celebrities who fit the criteria. Some popular tweets include a tweet by @kidnoble^[2] who tweeted Robert Townsend. Leon. Clifton Powell. Jason Weaver. Keith David. I could do this all day," gaining over 720 retweets and 3,700 points (shown below, left). Rapper Black Milk^[3] tweeted, "John P. Kee," gaining over 200 retweets and 1,600 likes (shown below, right).

R&B singer John Legend^[4] joined in on the thread to add that he discovered the Stevie Wonder song "Ribbon In The Sky" would be considered "blackfamous" after Wonder played the song at his wedding (shown below, left). One of the most popular celebrities mentioned was singer Frankie Beverly. For example, Twitter user @jamilarobinson^[5] told a story about a white DJ not knowing the singer, gaining over 150 retweets and 900 likes (shown below, right). The moment was covered by Twitter Events^[6] and Buzzfeed.^[7]

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References