Eiiii Brother Bernard / Father Bernard

Submission 3,049

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About

Eiiii Brother Bernard or Eiiii Father Bernard refers to a viral video and TikTok audio of someone yelling, "Hey, Brother Bernard" or "Hey, Father Bernard" as a woman from his congregation jumps on parish priest Father Bernard Ackon's body during his funeral. Ackon died in February 2023 and the video was posted to TikTok that March, where it then went viral as the source for memes and video edits.

Origin

On February 21st, 2023, Reverand Father Bernard Ackon, a Parish Priest of St. John the Baptist Church in Saltpond, Ghana, reportedly died suddenly.^[1] On March 21st, the MARYBA TV YouTube^[2] channel streamed his funeral mass, garnering over 10,000 views in three weeks. On March 22nd, TikToker^[3] @polylover165 posted a video of a woman, purportedly part of his congregation, jumping on his casket during the burial, garnering over 56,000 views in three weeks (shown below). During the video, someone yells, "Eiii, Father Bernard!"

Spread

The video of the woman jumping on Father Bernard's casket was reuploaded by TikToker^[4] @akuawilson22 on March 23rd, 2023, garnering over 572,000 views in three weeks. The video's original sound^[5] inspired over 8,000 uses over the following weeks, most commonly attached to funny videos of someone failing (popular examples shown below).

On March 31st, Twitter^[6] user @Wizzla1414 shared the video along with an explanation of it, claiming the woman was part of his congregation. Someone later asked in a comment if the jump was intentional, which he claims it was.^[7]

On April 9th, TikToker^[8] @iceboyprince posted a video using the sound that gained over 5 million views in a day. On April 10th, Twitter^[9] user @Naija_PR reposted the meme, writing, "This guy went too far with this 'Brother Bernard' stuff.😂😂," garnering over 1,700 likes in under 24 hours (shown below).