City Boy! City Boy!

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About

City Boy! City Boy! refers to a scene from the animated TV show Gravity Falls in which the character Deputy Durland mockingly yells, "City boy! City boy!" at Dipper, mocking him. The scene comes from a 2012 episode of the show and went viral as a reaction meme on TikTok in 2022 as a reference to the AAVE slang term city boy, meaning a man who doesn't let women get in the way of his success.

In January 2026, the meme saw a notable resurgence after a series of posts on TikTok caused the format to again garner virality online.

Origin

Gravity Falls

On June 30th, 2012, season one episode three of Gravity Falls, "Headhunters," aired on the Disney Channel.^[3] At one point in the episode, Deputy Durland mocks the idea of Dipper, a literal city boy, being able to solve a crime. He yells, "City boy! City boy!" toward Dipper.

The clip was uploaded to YouTube^[4] on July 12th, 2016, gaining over 147,000 views in six years (shown below).

Slang Term

The slang term "city boy" was defined on Urban Dictionary^[1] on July 15th, 2019. The top-voted definition reads, "A male who is living his very best life and chasing the bag at all times without letting Hot Girls or any female get in the way."

The term has been further popularized online by Instagram^[2] page cityboys, boasting over 1.2 million followers, which frequently posts content where men pwn or act coldly to women in the pursuit of success.

Emergence of TikTok Meme

In June 2022, TikTokers began using the clip of Deputy Durland yelling "city boy" from Gravity Falls as a reaction in videos in which men call out women or act "toxic" towards them after saying or doing something controversial, referring to the slang term "city boy."

On June 20th, 2022, TikToker^[5] thaboyzbible posted an early example that used the clip along with other reaction memes in a video where a man refuses to give a woman his Snapchat, gaining over 7.1 million views in five days (since deleted).

Spread

The City Boy meme trend, combining the Gravity Falls reaction and the slang term, continued to spread over the following days in late June 2022.

For instance, June 20th, 2022, TikToker^[6] shaggingtonfc.official posted a clip from the reality TV show Love Island using the reaction meme, gaining over 3 million views in five days.

On June 26th, the TikTok^[7] account cityboyyyyycityboyyy posted another version of the meme featuring the Gravity Falls clip following a tweet about a woman's boyfriend cheating on her during her birthday and defending himself by saying he didn't know it was her birthday. The meme received over 533,500 likes and 4,700 comments in three years.

On June 28th, 2022, TikToker^[8] ryanwmpugh posted a video commenting on the widespread prevalence of the City Boy meme on his FYP (For You Page) at the time, garnering over 10,400 likes and 175 comments in three years.

2026 Resurgence

In early January 2026, the City Boy meme then underwent a notable resurgence on TikTok as numerous users revived the format and began posting new examples en masse, largely in the same style as the 2022 emergence.

For example, on January 7th, 2026, the TikTok^[9] page reelrushclips_ shared a version with a couple talking in a car followed by the scene from Gravity Falls. The meme received nearly 14,000 likes and 240 comments in five days.

On January 8th, TikToker^[13] ryanwmpugh posted a follow-up to his 2022 TikTok, commenting on the prevalence of the meme at the time, noting it was happening again four years later. The video accumulated over 292,500 likes and nearly 1,000 comments in four days.

On January 10th, 2026, TikToker^[10] ethanlouisethan shared another example of the trend, which featured the meme after a clip from a street interview where a man says he would not hook up with two women who previously said anyone he asked would say yes to the question. The post garnered roughly 1,700 likes and 40 comments in two days, with numerous replies sharing altered images of Deputy Durland from the meme in the comments.

That same day, TikToker^[11] joelohrenz posted a video commenting on the prevalence of the meme on TikTok again after four years after it initially went viral, receiving over 173,000 likes and 600 comments in two days.

On January 11th, 2026, TikToker^[12] dr.smeckles shared another example of the format that was used in a video of a man telling a woman to stop taking photos on his bike after asking for a selfie and refusing him. The meme garnered over 408,700 likes and 2,000 comments in a day.