Why Are You Gay?

Confirmed 309,830

About

"Why Are You Gay?", sometimes spelled "Why Are You Gae?", is a memorable quote from a debate on homosexuality aired by the Ugandan TV channel NBS TV in 2012. Initially circulated as a viral video, in 2019 the fragment of the broadcast, along with several other memorable scenes, were used in remixes and as image macros.

Origin

On December 18th, 2012, an episode of English-language morning show Morning Breeze aired on Ugandan TV channel NBS TV. In the episode, transgender LGBT rights activist Pepe Julian Onziema debated with Morning Breeze host Simon Kaggwa Njala and pastor Martin Ssempa on homosexuality. On December 20th, 2012, YouTube^[1] user Swalz uploaded the broadcast to the platform. The video, which has since been removed, accumulated over 410,000 views in six years. A reupload of the full interview was uploaded by user Seprewa (shown below).

In the first few minutes of the interview, host Simon Kagwa Njala addresses the guest with a question "why are you gay?"

- We bring in the studio this morning one of the gay right activists, mister – should I call you "mister"? (Sure) – Pepe Julian Onzima. Thank you for coming in, good morning. Why are you gay?
- Who says I'm gay?
- You are gay.

Spread

The video did not show any significant spread until January 2019. On January 3rd, 2019, YouTube^[2] channel Deserty HD posted a Curb Your Enthusiasm Theme remix of the "Why are you gay?" exchange. The video gained over 761,000 views in five weeks.

In the following days, edits of the interview appeared on Instagram. On January 4th, 2019, Instagram^[3] user xcarter posted a video containing two moments from the broadcast which gained over 2,800 views and 160 likes in one month.

In the following month, various fragments of the broadcast, including remixes, were posted on Instagram^[4]^[5] and YouTube^[6]^[7]. On January 16th, YouTuber^[8] Jonny Pham posted a six-minute compilation of notable moments from the interview, which gained over 157,000 views in three weeks (shown below, left). On the next day, YouTuber^[9] Immoral Indiffirence posted a 17-second fragment containing the "Why are you gay?" exchange (shown below, right). The video gained over 150,000 views in three weeks.

On January 18th, Redditor^[10] Top---Secret posted the video to /r/youtubehaiku subreddit. The post gained over 4,300 upvotes in three weeks. On February 4th, the segment was featured in a You Laugh You Lose ^[11] episode by PewDiePie (shown below).

Starting in January 2019, memes utilizing the macro have been circulated on Reddit and Instagram.