Bro Who Tried To 'Sneak In Nebraska' Hypes Up The State's Beautiful Palm Trees

On October 5th, TikToker @2tg -- a high schooler with over 200,000 followers known for his ironic comedy and selfie videos -- posted a seemingly simple video captioned "if you ain't in Cali, New York, Nebraska, Florida then where tf u at?" In a matter of days the video had gone viral as a source of outrage, racking up over 2.2 million views in under a month. It inspired over 27,000 comments, most of which read something along the lines of "bro really tried to sneak in Nebraska💀." Apparently Nebraska has a lot of haters and 2tg's comparison of the State to big-time tourist destinations like New York and Cali (the relevant states, as multiple people have commented) brought out the Nebraska-hater in everyone.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7015672957972335877

The comments didn't stop at 2tg's video. They echoed and spilled across TikTok and other social media platforms as users started posting the same phrase under unrelated videos, losing all context to troll unknowing users. This also sparked a trend where TikTokers make videos "sneaking in" out-of-place items into hype lists. For such an overall simple video TikTokers have squeezed a lot of mindless and annoying fun out of it and they continue to in every video @2tg posts. When a @2tg video goes up, a comment about Nebraska is not far off. The top comments of nearly every upload after the Nebraska video are joking about him being in Nebraska, as many assumed he must be if he feels the need to hype it up as so relevant in his original viral video. Even more interesting, he's continued to hype up the state since the video, never letting the hate sway him on Nebraska's hype. We reached out to 2tg to ask him a few things about the viral video, starting with the most important question: Are you from Nebraska?

"Yes, I always get comments pointing out how there are palm trees in the back of my videos. So what? You think because I live in Nebraska there are no palm trees?"

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7020126677627981061

The unprovoked comment about palm trees in Nebraska was an instant red flag, yet he continued to hype up the state in his following answers. When asked his favorite thing about Nebraska, 2tg told us: "There is zero traffic due to the organization of the state and so many cornfields too." Asked to elaborate on his love of cornfields, he said, "Cornfields are an infinite food source during the apocalypse." He made a similar statement in an October 11th video hyping up the cornfields and low traffic, receiving predictable comments about trying to sneak in Nebraska. When I asked him why he put Nebraska on the list he told me Nebraska gets too much hate and said, "I believe Nebraska is amazing and is the best state to exist ever and that's why I added it to the list." He also wanted us to know that he considers himself the "CEO of Nebraska" now, a common term on TikTok used by people who start trends. He's proud of the meme he's started and wants to make that very clear.

Things seemed a little sussy though. The palm tree comment didn't sit right with us. We immediately began pouring through his old videos to look for palm trees and found several. The more we looked, the less 2tg's surroundings looked like Nebraska. A quick Google search reveals that Nebraska is too cold for palm trees and they need special care if they're to be grown in the state. With a little more quick sleuthing and digging we were able to all but confirm that 2tg does not live in Nebraska. He lives in California and was attempting to troll us with his answers just as he's been trolling TikTok's FYP all month starting with his original Nebraska video and continuing with videos doubling down on that Nebraska love. He's capitalizing on the meme, not just accepting his self-appointed title of CEO of Nebraska but thriving in it.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7017957901130140933

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7016440929477332230

TikTok has garnered a massive casual trolling and ironic meme culture in the last few years to the point where it can be hard to tell genuine content from disingenuous content. This is especially accelerated by the design of the For You Page that more-or-less spits random videos it thinks you'll like at your screen. Many users post both troll videos and more normal lip dub content intermingled like it's nothing, including 2tg. Some of his most successful videos are drenched in irony and straight-up lies either manufactured to annoy people or inspire rage, but he also has plenty of typical TikTok videos sprinkled in there, from lip dubs to skits. There's nothing wrong with this at all on the surface, especially when the lie is just an innocent meme, but at its worst this culture of lying for viral fame and comedy has created something of a fake news problem on the app. Nothing you see on TikTok can be taken at face value at this point, not even a video where a kid simply hypes up Nebraska alongside Florida and New York.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7020816034877754630

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7017688431484620038

Lying about living in Nebraska for the sake of a joke is about as innocent as it gets online, though. 2tg's dedication to the joke should be applauded and his willingness to take it as far as it can go is what memes are made of. For those who know and follow 2tg, or c00kiek1ng? as he's known on his main account with nearly two million followers at the time of writing, it's not surprising that the kid is a troll. Trolling and staying dedicated to the troll is a winning strategy on TikTok. Trolling gets clout and if an opportunity like an interview comes up, of course the trolling will continue. His followers likely understand that the Nebraska schtick is exactly that, while those who just know him from the FYP and Nebraska videos continue to seethe with confusion and misplaced anger. 2tg wanted to become the CEO of Nebraska and effectively he's done it. Countless hordes of TikTokers will never hear the word "Nebraska" again without thinking of 2tg's video and that's exactly what he wanted.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7019392745802534149

Although we saw through the troll, 2tg won from the first step by simply getting us to ask him genuine questions about Nebraska. At face value we believed his lies about living in the state and why wouldn't we? At the end of the day, 2tg doesn't seem all that concerned with keeping the lies 100% solid. He likely knows that people are playing into a joke and that the FYP destroys context. He knows that once prospective followers dig into his content and see the ironic content and comedy videos they'll assume to take everything he says with a grain of salt. Why would he mention the palm trees to us if he didn't want us to know? Never have lies been so valued on a social media platform and "Bro tried to sneak in Nebraska" proves it. In this case, the lie has helped further solidify an online identity for 2tg as a comedian and troll and put him on the map with a memorable trend.