Magic Johnson "I Ain't Gonna Be Here"

About

Magic Johnson "I Ain't Gonna Be Here" is a reaction video series based on a clip of former professional basketball player Magic Johnson retiring from his position as president of basketball operations of the Los Angeles Lakers. The video has been used to express a cynical or sarcastic response to issues that will be solved by tragic means.

Origin

On April 9th, 2019, Magic Johnson announced that he would be retiring from his post as president of basketball operations of the Los Angeles Lakers (shown below).^[1] During the speech, he described conversations with Lakers, who would frequently talk to him about future seasons. To this, he responded, "I ain't gonna be here."

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Following the announcement, Twitter user @RealSimbalism tweeted an isolated clip of the moment. They added the caption, "Baby Boomers when you ask them to care about climate change." The post received more than 7,700 retweets, 9,000 likes and 580,000 views in two days (shown below).

That day, the Twitter account for @HoHighlights tweeted an isolated clip of Johnson saying the line. The post received more than 525 retweets, 2,000 likes and 247,000 views in two days (shown below).

That evening, Twitter account @TrapAHolic__ tweeted the video with the caption "When they deny your PTO request but you already booked your vacation." The post received more than 20,000 retweets, 40,000 likes and 788,000 views in two days (shown below).

Some compared the video to the Crying Michael Jordan. Twitter user @___Prime tweeted, "Magic going to be remembered for these 4 seconds. Just like MJ is now going to be remembered for the crying meme" (shown below).

The following day, Twitter^[2] published a Moments page on the quote.

Various Examples

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External References