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What Is The 'I Love Your Daughter' 'What Do You Have To Offer Her' Trend On TikTok And How Is It Connected To 'Gilmore Girls'? The Meme Explained
Gilmore Girls may have ended over a decade ago, but fans of the TV show keep uncovering easter eggs from it that regularly make their way into popular discourse.
The "I Love Your Daughter / What Do You Have To Offer Her?" dance trend is one such symptom of our collective Gilmore Girls hangover.
Here's why you might have seen men all over TikTok using a sound clip from an in-show black-and-white film created by Stars Hallow's resident goofball, Kirk Gleason, and a song that goes, "What's that supposed to be about baby?"
Where Does The 'I Love Your Daughter / What Do You Have To Offer Her' Dialogue Come From?
On April 30th, 2002, the TV series Gilmore Girls aired the 19th episode of its second season. Part of the plot revolved around Kirk Gleason's short film, a stilted, black-and-white project in which he plays a man asking for his lover's hand from her father.
YouTuber Adrianna Bakker reuploaded the short film in 2009, showing how Kirk does a funny little dance in order to convince the patriarch that he is worthy of his daughter's hand.
Over 15 years later, a snippet of the film was uploaded to TikTok, kicking off a trend in the following weeks and months. TikToker @clzvr posted the clip, editing in the song "Breathe" by the boyband Years & Years to hype up Kirk's silly little dance.
@clozvr Idk why I did this chat |#edit#foryoupage#flopera#fypシ#viral#gilmoregirls#gilmoregirlsedit#kirkgleason#kirkgleasonedit ♬ afilmbykirk – ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ
How Did Kirk Gleason's Short Film and Dance Become A TikTok Trend?
In October 2024, the sound from the aforementioned edit became a prevalent TikTok trend, as seen in a video posted by TikToker @austinpepito, who used the song to demonstrate his impeccable worm dance technique. The video gathered over 48 million views and 7 million likes in two weeks as the trend continued to spread.
@austinpepito would you still love me if I was a worm? #fyp #worm #alliam ♬ afilmbykirk – ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ
More TikTokers began to participate in the trend as it garnered virality, either to show off their dance moves or show a similarly valuable trait they possess. For instance, TikToker @sodakhtar posted a video showing off his cake-baking skills, gathering over 6 million views in three weeks.
@sodakhtar will eat this together every night #kirk ♬ afilmbykirk – ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ
The trend continued to become popularized as October progressed, with young men dancing, presenting their hobbies and joking about how they would woo their potential lover's father.
@demetri_patakyyy Don’t let him fool you, he loved it #fyp #foryou #nothing #foryoupage #whatdoyouhavetooffer #iloveyourdaughter #golden #goldenretriever #puppy ♬ afilmbykirk – ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ
@paxloricchio #greenscreenvideo #kirk #gilmoregirls @Alex Salleroli ♬ afilmbykirk – ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ
For the full history of I Love Your Daughter, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
