Ningning Is the Maknae

Submission 64

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About

Ningning Is the Maknae is a catchphrase based on a viral video of TikToker @ludicrousdonut criticizing a video of K-pop artist Ningning, a member of aespa, eating cake before the other group members, saying it's crazy that she ate first because, "Ningning is the maknae." In Korean, "maknae" is a word meaning "youngest" and purportedly, in Korean culture, the maknae is meant to start eating last. The video was posted in late November 2024 and became the subject of memes

Origin

As early as November 19th, 2024, a video of Ningning, aka Ning Yizhuo, a member of the K-pop group Aespa, eating a bite of cake while the rest of her group members pray during a live stream, went viral online.^[1]

On November 20th, TikToker^[2] @ludicrousdonut posted a video reacting to the clip of Ningning eating the cake while her other group members pray. In the video, the TikToker criticizes Ningning for eating the cake before the other members, saying that she's "not trying to be messy," but, "In Korea, you can't eat until the elders eat. Ningning is the maknae, which means she's the youngest, and the fact that she ate first is crazy." The video gained over 814,000 views in six days.

Maknae is a Korean word meaning "youngest." Purportedly, according to Korean culture, the maknae is meant to eat after their elders. The role of the maknae is commonly discussed among K-pop fans online.^[3]^[4]

I'm not trying to be messy, I promise you, but you know that video of Aespa eating the cake and it's going really viral for some reason? In Korea, you can't eat until the elders eat. Ningning is the maknae, which means she's the youngest, and the fact that she ate first is crazy. I'm not trying to be – I'm not trying to be messy, I promise you. I'm just saying, that's crazy.

Spread

On November 21st, 2024, X^[5] user @sieunistaken reposted the video, writing, "me after my first month of learning korean on duolingo," garnering over 14,000 likes and 1,600 reposts in five days.

Later that day, the TikToker,^[6] @ludicrousdonut , posted a response to commenters "eating her up" for the maknae video, claiming that she was just joking, garnering over 100,000 views in five days.

The video continued to inspire memes over the following days. On November 25th, X^[7] user @hagnugu posted a version of the queen never cry meme referencing the video, garnering over 51,000 likes in a day.

Later that day, TikToker^[8] @ceollis posted a fancam edit using the audio from the maknae video, garnering over 390,000 views in a day. X^[9] user @ningningpics posted a GIF of Ningning eating ice cream, captioning it, "ningning is the MAKNAE 💜," garnering over 5,500 likes in a day.

Later that same day, TikToker^[10] @letternumber_s posted an AI-generated version of the Ningning eating cake clip set to the audio from @ludicrousdonut's video in which it looks like aespa fights after Ningning takes a bite of cake, garnering over 170,000 views in under 24 hours.