"Yes Unc" They Say In Unison

Submission 15,831

Part of a series on Unc / Unc Status. [View Related Entries]

About

"Yes Unc" They Say In Unison refers to a spam comment on TikTok (and a series of similar comments) that started in the comment sections of TikToker @bamajuice2real's videos known for his Thugs / Hood Vegans / Lightskin Cheerleader series. His viewers would often comment "yes unc" on his videos in early August 2023, pointing out the absurdity of his videos with the deadpan reaction. In turn, a commentor made fun of the habit by commenting, "'yes unc' they say in unison," which led to the phrase and its variants spreading across TikTok going into September 2023.

Origin

Starting in early August 2023, TikToker^[1] @bamajuice2real started to go viral for a series of videos in which he followed the phrasal template "How Thugs X / How Hood Vegans X / Lightskin Cheerleader." Nonsensical in nature, the videos used face filters and the song "My Dawg" by Lil Baby. In the comment sections of his early August 2023 videos, many would comment "yes unc" (AAVE slang for "uncle") pointing out the absurdity of his videos by using a deadpan reaction as well as contrasting the absurdity with his seemingly old age.

On August 7th, 2023, @bamajuice2real posted a TikTok^[2] that followed the "Thugs / Hood Vegans / Lightskin Cheerleader" format, centering on Wendy's fries and gaining roughly 1.1 million plays and 136,500 likes in one month (shown below).

In the comment section of the aforementioned TikTok,^[2] TikToker bidelliiiiii (@8ballenjoyer) commented, "'Yes unc.' they say in unison." The comment received roughly 12,800 likes in one month, spawning the eventual meme (shown below).

Precursor

Prior to 2023, a long-form phrasal template using the phrase "they say in unison" trended on X, formerly Twitter. The template involved four characters (usually celebrities) gulping, breathing, nodding and sighing, prompted by a question from a fifth person who is satirically likened to be the master of the task in question.

For instance, the first usage of the snowclone was posted by X^[8] user @tomatoholland on January 7th, 2018, gaining over 480 likes in five years (shown below, left). In the years that followed, many replicated the format, such as X^[9] user @CrypticNoHoes on May 7th, 2021, who posted a rapper iteration, gaining roughly 20,500 likes in two years (shown below, right).

Viral usage of the format persisted on X^[10] in 2022, likely inspiring the utterance of "'yes unc' they all say in unison" in 2023. Additionally, another meme that could have been an inspiration was the Say the Line, Wojak format.

Spread

Going into mid-August 2023, TikTokers continued to comment the phrase beneath @bamajuice2real's videos, eventually switching the words in the phrase to read slightly different. For instance, in the comment section of an August 12th TikTok,^[3] commenters shared more elaborate iterations (shown below, left). A comment section beneath an August 13th TikTok^[4] read similarly (shown below, right).

During the same timeframe, videos with "'yes unc' they say in unison" written in the description started to surface, such as in a video posted by TikToker^[5] @grunkn on August 8th, 2023, gaining roughly 55,100 plays and 3,100 likes in a month (shown below, left). In parodies of @bamajuice2real's videos, TikTokers also wrote the phrase in the description, such as TikToker^[6] @griffin_coldestedits on August 18th (shown below, right).

Going into September 2023, the "yes unc" comments began to spread across TikTok. For instance, on September 5th, in the comment section of a viral photo slideshow consisting of Is the Cure to Male Loneliness Thugging That Shit Out? memes posted by TikToker^[7] @literallyme9696, many of the top comments recited variations of the phrase (shown below).