Italian Brainrot / AI Italian Animals
Mateus Lima • 12 days ago
Submission 173
Part of a series on Catchphrases. [View Related Entries]
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Ref Do Something, also known as Ref Have a Word, refers to a catchphrase that calls upon a referee to interfere in an intense sports moment, jokingly inferring that the ref's effort would be futile. The catchphrase was added as a caption to videos and images of hyperbolic sports clips, like ones from sports animes like Blue Lock. The meme spread on TikTok in early 2025.
On February 6th, 2025, TikToker[1] @pinoypins posted a video about a panel in the soccer manga series Blue Lock, gaining over 267,700 likes in a month.
Later on the same day, TikToker rat (@actualrodentt) commented, "Ref DO something 😭🙏," receiving over 16,200 likes in a month (shown below). The comment is currently the first known viral use of the catchphrase.
Also on February 6th, TikToker[2] @ybgcam5ive posted a video using the catchphrase, showing the same Blue Lock panel highlighted in @pinoypins' video. The video received over 1,700 likes in a month (shown below) and was likely inspired by the TikTok comment.
On February 12th, 2025, TikToker[3] @trensixz posted a video of Bowser playing soccer in Mario Strikers, captioned, "Ref, I'm BEGGING YOU, PLEASE DO SOMETHING," receiving over 35,600 likes in a month (shown below).
On February 25th, TikToker[4] @chibotai posted a video of a basketball ref taking a jumpsuit during a youth game, captioning it, "Ref, PLEASE do your job," with a heartbreak emoji and a dead rose emoji (🥀), gaining over 152,000 likes in a month (shown below).
The memes continued in March 2025, evident in a meme shared by TikToker[5] @frankoceanfangirl420 on March 26th, showing a Haikyuu!! character giving "backshots," like in the Gojo Backshots meme, captioned, "Ref do something," amassing over 26,300 likes in five days (shown below).
On March 29th, 2025, TikToker[6] @allhailrex shared a video raving about the Ref Do Something meme, calling it "top tier" in his text caption. Over two days, the video received over 526,600 likes (shown below).
[1] TikTok – @pinoypins
[2] TikTok – @ybgcam5ive
[5] TikTok – @frankoceanfangirl420
[6] TikTok – @allhailrex
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