"White People When" Memes

Submission 8,759

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About

"White People When" Memes refers to memes that use the phrasal template "White people when X" in which the "X" is replaced with a stereotype about white people. Memes following the snowclone trended en masse in 2023, via GIF Captions and video meme templates that portrayed the reaction of white people like White People at the Function, The Avengers funeral scene and the White Woman Scream GIF, among others. Predominantly starting in December 2023, discourse about whether or not "White People When" jokes were overdone or meaningless ensued on Twitter / X and elsewhere, leading to parodies of the criticism.

Origin

Online posts using the sentence starter "White people when" date as far back as December 5th, 2013, with a tweet^[1] shared by Funny or Die's account that portrayed white people's reaction to hearing a person say they've never seen The Wire, gaining over 200 likes in 10 years (shown below).

Spread

On December 3rd, 2015, X^[2] user @DirtMcTurd posted the first known GIF caption to use the "White people when" snowclone, writing, "White people, when they heard Coldplay was playing the Super Bowl halftime show," gaining over 530 likes eight years (shown below, left).

In 2017, a slew of viral "White people when" memes surfaced on X, most notably a GIF caption shared by X^[3] user @SandersWhitney_ on June 19th, 2017, reading, "white people when you pull into their driveway to reverse," gaining roughly 109,000 likes in six years (shown below, right).

White People When The Function Has X

Memes following the phrasal template "White People When The Function Has X" started on January 20th, 2020, when X^[4] user @itsMalikEl tweeted, "White people when Sweet Caroline start playing at the function," gaining roughly 2,200 likes in three years (shown below).

The phrasal template became increasingly notable when Instagram^[5] user @bruhloon shared a meme on July 23rd, 2022, that captioned a video of four men Irish stepdancing (originally posted by TikToker^[6] @_cairde) with "white people when you tell them there will be raisins and lukewarm milk at the function," gaining over 86,300 likes in one year (shown below).

Further Spread

Going into 2023, the "White people when" snowclone gained usage en masse. For instance, on January 9th, 2023, Instagram^[7] user @imperialwizard69 posted a meme with Captain America crying about Brian Griffin's death, gaining over 540 likes in 11 months (shown below, left). The meme was reposted by Instagram^[8] user @cheebsitz on January 12th, gaining over 3,200 likes.

The meme ultimately led to the first "White people when" meme to use The Avengers funeral scene, started by X^[9] user @AntiWarDevil on March 11th, 2023, gaining roughly 4,500 likes in nine months (shown below, right).

The Avengers funeral scene was used in more "White people when" memes on X^[10] later in 2023.

During the same timeframe, meme creators used the crying screencap from I Am a Surgeon for "White people when" memes, such as X^[11] user @m0uthofinfinity on May 7th, 2023, gaining roughly 48,000 likes in seven months (shown below, left).

Later in 2023, "White people when" memes started to use the White Woman Scream GIF from the teaser trailer for OD. For instance, on December 9th, X^[12] user @kushgoku tweeted, "white people when you don’t separate the art from the artist," gaining over 38,000 likes in three days (shown below, right).

Discourse / Criticism

Following the virality of the White Woman Scream GIF in December 2023, discourse and criticism regarding "White people when" memes surfaced en masse online. For instance, the discourse was notably started by X^[13] user @Schaffrillas with a quote shared on December 12th, 2023, stating that the snowclone "has become an increasingly meaningless setup for a joke," gaining over 30,000 likes in less than a day (shown below).

The aforementioned tweet was humorously criticized, evident in a quote shared by X^[14] user @wokeydpronouns on December 12th, 2023, that used the same GIF, captioned, "white people when you make a joke about them," receiving over 34,000 likes in less than a day (shown below, left).

Parodies became more elaborate, such as a quote posted by X^[15] user @M1das_OW2 on December 12th, 2023, in which they said, "oops wrong gif hold on one sec," transitioning between the White Woman Scream and The Avengers funeral, receiving over 30,000 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).