May 24 Incident / I Lost My Keys On May 24th, 2023

Submission 964

About

The May 24 Incident or I Lost My Keys On May 24th, 2023 refers to a series of memes on TikTok about losing your keys on May 24th, 2023. The memes often ironically portray the loss of the keys as a much more tragic event than it is. They were started and popularized by TikToker @ilostmykeyson24.5.2023 on May 25th, 2023, inspiring further TikTokers to make memes about losing their keys.

Origin

On May 25th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @ilostmykeyson24.5.2023 posted their first video, a slideshow consisting of three Star Wars memes, the last portraying losing your keys on May 24th, 2023 as tragic, garnering over 1.8 million views in five days (shown below).

The TikToker^[2]^[3] continued to post videos about losing their keys on May 24th over the course of the week, often gaining tens to hundreds of thousands of views (popular examples shown below).

Spread

As the TikToker continued to post videos about losing their keys on May 24th, 2023, others began posting videos adding to the lore behind the story. For example, on May 28th, 2023, TikToker^[4]^[5] @i.stole.keys.24.5.2023 posted two videos claiming to have stolen someone's keys that same day, the second garnering over 850,000 views in two days (shown below, left and right).

On May 29th, TikToker^[6] @may24keyassassin posted a video referring to the day as "the May 24 incident" and posing as an assassin eliminating all evidence of it, garnering over 188,000 views in a day (shown below).