Mitch Shrugging

Submission 6,122

Part of a series on TikTok. [View Related Entries]

About

Mitch Shrugging refers to a series of parody-style viral videos where TikTokers duet clips of a man named Mitchell shrugging and smiling, then fake distress at him hurting them or their families. The sound from the videos is also used by animators and artists on TikTok as an exploitable, akin to a redraw meme trend. The parodies initially began in April 2022 and continued throughout the year into November.

Origin

On January 7th, 2021, TikToker^[1] @mitchelldale8 posted his first TikTok video. On April 18th, 2022, he then posted a video^[2] of him smiling and shrugging, set to Super Mario 64 file select music. The video gathered over 3 million plays and 400,000 likes in nearly seven months (seen below, left). On the same day, he posted another video^[3] doing the same action, this time wearing a purple hoodie, which accumulated over 700,000 plays and 70,000 likes in a similar timeframe (seen below, right).

On May 1st, 2022, TikToker^[4] @kurtymac posted a video dueting Mitch's video alongside a text overlay that read, "POV: ur interrogating Mitch who is the prime suspect in a missing person's case." The video gathered over 500,000 plays and 70,000 likes in nearly six months (seen below).

Spread

The trend soon caught on, with multiple creators duetting Mitch's video and acting out a humorous scenario where he appears to have kidnapped or hurt their family. On May 9th, 2022, TikToker^[5] @frenchtoastpapi posted one such video, gathering over 560,000 plays and 67,000 likes in nearly six months (seen below, left). On May 18th, TikToker^[6] @vinnylocasto posted a video following the trend, gathering over 2 million plays and 500,000 likes in nearly five months (seen below, right).

On May 19th, TikToker^[7] @blainejordan posted a video acting out distress at the knowledge that Mitch had slept with his wife. The video gathered over 3.5 million plays and 500,000 likes in nearly five months (seen below, left). Also on May 19th, TikToker^[8] @callder_griffith posted a video acting as though he was being strangled by Mitch, gathering 7.9 million plays and over 1 million likes in nearly five months (seen, right).

In the fall of 2022, the sound began being utilized for a TikTok animation trend in which users redrew Mitche's shrug. On October 23rd, 2022, TikToker^[9] @quenjonem used the audio to make an animation, gathering over 5 million plays and 800,000 likes in nearly two weeks (seen below, left). On November 8th, 2022, the audio was used for a fan animation of Chainsaw Man by TikToker^[10] @falsefitt, gathering over 3 million plays and 480,000 likes (seen below, right).