You Do Not, Under Any Circumstances, "Gotta Hand It To Them"

Submission 25,140

Part of a series on Dril. [View Related Entries]

About

You Do Not, Under Any Circumstances, "Gotta Hand It To Them" is a catchphrase and phrasal template inspired by a 2017 Dril tweet. The original reads, "issuing correction on a previous post of mine, regarding the terror group ISIL. you do not, under any circumstances, 'gotta hand it to them.'" The snowclone is usually used as a joke to make fun of a poster who appears to have praised a villainous person or organization.

Origin

On February 15th, 2017, Dril^[1] tweeted, "issuing correction on a previous post of mine, regarding the terror group ISIL. you do not, under any circumstances, 'gotta hand it to them,'" gaining over 14,000 retweets and 59,000 likes in six years (shown below). There was no "previous post" Dril was referring to.

Spread

Over the following years, the tweet became a common way to joke about poorly received apologies and posters that appear to praise villainous groups online. In particular, the usage of the tweet as a meme picked up after several examples of prominent figures praising groups and figures widely considered enemies went viral. For example, in October 2018, Russia Today reporter Sameera Khan posted an apology for posting an infographic that made gulags under Joseph Stalin sound pleasant^[4] (shown below, left), reminding many of the Dril tweet. In 2019, a pair of tweets from Donald Trump that claimed ISIS use the internet "better than anyone" but "there is nothing to admire about them"^[2] (shown below, right). In the eyes of many commenters, the tweets resembled Dril's "gotta hand it to em" tweet.^[3]

The tweet continued to see consistent use through the early 2020s. On July 5th, 2020, Twitter user @planetsdyin^[5] posted the snowclone in response to a post praising Elon Musk's mother, gaining over 30 retweets and 1,300 likes in three years (shown below, left). On March 28th, 2023, Twitter user @RottenInDenmark^[6] referenced the Dril tweet talking about a chart that made it appear the Nazis were responsible for lessening the mortality rate of Norwegians during their occupation of the country in World War II, gaining over 40 retweets and 1,600 likes in two weeks (shown below, right).