White Man Did It In One Week

About

White Man Did It In One Week refers to a viral video and audio clip of Dr. Umar Johnson explaining how he waited three and a half years for HVAC installation from a Black HVAC installer, then had the service done by a white man in one week. Johnson continues venting his frustrations over hiring Black men vs. white men, suggesting it's a safer bet to hire white men. The clip was uploaded online in September 2022 and became a viral lip dub audio on TikTok in 2023, also seeing use as a catchphrase on sites like Twitter.

Origin

On September 12th, 2022, TikToker^[1] @atomicwingss and YouTuber^[2] Reggie Man uploaded a video clip of controversial motivational speaker Dr. Umar Johnson expressing frustrations over hiring a Black HVAC installer, who allegedly made him wait three and a half years for HVAC installation. He says it "hurt his heart" that he couldn't find a Black HVAC-er with "character and integrity" who wouldn't overcharge him. He then repeats the phrase, "I waited three and a half years, white man did it in one week" three times, urging Black people to "get it together." He says he knows it's not all Black service workers, but all the ones he's met have "no integrity or character." The video gained over 964,000 views on TikTok and 5,000 on YouTube in a year (shown below). These are reuploads and it is unclear where it was originally uploaded.

Spread

The original sound for TikToker @atomicwingss's upload started to become popularized through lip dub videos in the following weeks. On September 23rd, 2022, TikToker^[3] @ilovewomen1436 posted a skit using the audio, garnering over a million views in eight months (shown below, left). On October 28th, TikToker^[4] @will__the__great posted a skit using the audio that gained over 1.4 million views in seven months (shown below, right).

On December 29th, TikToker^[8] @tyahnnahl posted a slideshow to the audio using Avatar images, garnering over 3.5 million views in five months (shown below, upper). The sound saw a significant boost in popularity throughout early 2023. On April 3rd, 2023, TikToker^[5] @rat_boy_enthusiast posted a to the audio using screenshots from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, garnering over 3.5 million views in a month (shown below, lower).

The phrase also started to see use on sites like Twitter. On April 30th, Twitter^[6] user @misoforko posted an image of Nikocado Avocado's weight loss using the phrase, garnering over 300 likes in a week.

On May 4th, TikToker^[7] @esmesalzman posted a video using the audio referencing the WMAF trope, garnering over 1.2 million views in five days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References