A Steve Martin Saturday Night Live skit from 1978 made the rounds online this week and was widely memed after many accused Generation Z of not getting the humor in it. The “King Tut” skit features Martin dancing around in a campy ancient Egyptian costume and was extremely popular at the time. The 44th anniversary of the skit was last week.

Many users across social media platforms like Twitter posted outragedly in response to purported Gen Z attempts to “cancel” Steve Martin for the King Tut skit.

Alongside these, many also mocked Generation Z's sense of humor in various posts and memes.

However, the discourse seemed rather one-sided: no tweet or other social media post calling Steve Martin or the King Tut video racist trended anywhere. As many observers pointed out, the defenders of Martin and King Tut seemed to be responding to an attack that had never happened.

Some users called the "King Tut" kerfuffle an instance of "manufactured outrage," speculating that right-wingers had supposedly planted the story to discredit opponents on the left. Others blamed Twitter and social media in general for amplifying an argument that wasn't an argument.

According to some users, a possible source for this week's controversy may have been a 2017 incident at Reed College in Portland, Oregon having to do with the "King Tut" video. In an article about a broader anti-racism protest at Reed, The Atlantic quoted one activist student who said when the Steve Martin video was shown during a lecture, they found it offensive. This quote circulated widely at the time.

Steve Martin fans, however, can rest assured that no serious attempt has been made to cancel "King Tut" (just as one year ago, no serious attempt was made to cancel Eminem) and Generation Z seems more interested in doing its own thing anyway.