Grab your comfort monkey plush and your simple four ingredient matcha cake, it's time to end your week with the Weekly Meme Roundup!

This week in memes, a frat in Iowa was exposed for a bizarre hazing ritual, a high school kid went viral for standing up for his beliefs in an arguably misguided way, a copypasta about how Japan is turning footsteps into electricity took over Reels, and more.

Here are five of the biggest memes of the past week that you need to catch up with.

Alpha Delta Phi Frat Hazing Ritual

The weirdness of fraternity hazing rituals was on full display this week after a video of a bizarre discovery in the basement of the Alpha Delta Phi frat house went viral.

The police bodycam video was actually taken back in 2024, but was only released online this past week. In the video, police respond to a fire alarm at the Iowa frat house only to find a bunch of shirtless frat pledges in the basement. Nobody wants to explain what they're doing there, but purportedly it was part of a hazing ritual.

As the video went viral online, people compared the scene to something out of a horror movie. A screenshot of all the shirtless pledges inspired a ton of memes, using the boys to represent weird group dynamics and situations.

It also inspired some discourse, because apparently everything posted online in 2026 has to inspire discourse. Some people used the video as an example of why frats should be left in the past, while others took the opportunity to defend frat culture and suggest that this is a totally normal thing we're seeing in the video.

Examples

Why Buy An Expensive Matcha Cake?

Marge Simpson is blowing up on TikTok for her cooking content and this week, a video about how to make a simple matcha cake really clicked with viewers.

@yourbluehairchef Easy Matcha cake recipe for my American folks 😋 #matchacake #chef #cooking #Recipe #delicious #USA ♬ original sound – MargeCooks

Okay, so the account isn't really run by Marge Simpson, but it does feature a PNG of Marge Simpson with an AI voice singing recipes at you, so that's almost the same thing. Right?

The account is called "Marge Cooks." Recently, a video on the page where Marge discourages you from buying an expensive matcha cake and teaches you how to make your own matcha cake with only four ingredients went viral. In the video, Marge sings a catchy song to share the directions. The song got stuck in many viewers' heads, inspiring a variety of memes.

While some are using the video in typical brainrot-style edits, others are going a step further and singing original covers of the song. Some are even singing the song in a Marge Simpson impression, flexing their talents to the fullest.

Examples

@imfaithelizabeth MARGE SIMPSON MATCHA CAKE ⁉️😍 #margesimpson #whybuyanexpensivematchacake #voiceimpressions #foryoupage ♬ original sound – imfaithelizabeth

@fatguynamedbigcheezy #whybuyanexpensivematchacake #margesimpson #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #letterpfp #fyp ♬ original sound – fatguynamedbigcheezy

@lilgodd33 MATCHA CAKE🍰 Full song is OUT NOW #matchacake #lilgodd #whybuyanexpensivematchacake #margesimpson #meme ♬ MATCHA CAKE by LIL GODD – Lil Godd

@lkgainss How? #whybuyanexpensivematchacake #meme #50v1 ♬ original sound – Lk

Punch the Monkey

A little monkey named Punch is melting hearts across social media as videos of him and his little monkey plush go viral.

Punch is a baby macaque at the Ichikawa City Zoo. He was found abandoned by his parents and hand trained by zookeepers. Now, he's adjusting to life with other monkeys, but it's not easy out there for a little guy like Punch.

Amidst all the adorable videos of Punch hanging out with his comfort monkey plushie, devastating videos of Punch getting bullied by the older monkeys are also going viral. One heartbreaking video in particular shows Punch getting dragged around by another monkey, then retreating to his plush.

The videos of Punch have incited a massive wave of memes, fan art and posts online, many of which show support for the little monkey and his struggles. Now, Punch seems to have made some friends as videos of him being groomed by and hanging out with other monkeys go viral. Hang in there, little monkey. Everybody loves you.

Examples

"Okay" Punch Kid

Unrelated to the monkey named Punch, another type of punch has been going viral online after a student went viral for decking another student that he disagreed with.

In the video, a high school patriot named Danny Spud, the one who posted the video, wanders around at his school's anti-ICE protest with a sign reading "I love ICE." He is then approached by another student who make it very clear that he's about to punch him. Spud let's him know that he'll be in trouble if he throws a punch.

The warning does nothing and the anti-ICE student throws the punch, making for a wild viral video.

After posting the video with a caption reading "What is happening to America?" the puncher became a major meme on sites like X and Reddit. Some people got to work turning him into an anti-ICE symbol, while others criticized him for using violence to counter opinions he disagrees with.

Examples

Japan Is Turning Footsteps Into Electricity Copypasta

Finally, a bizarre copypasta sharing a legitimately interesting fact about piezoelectric technology is going viral on Instagram Reels.

The copypasta itself has been spreading on Reels for months, purportedly as a way of boosting content in the algorithm. Whether this works or not is speculative, but is supported by the fact that many of the videos it appears alongside have hundreds of thousands to millions of likes and views.

As for the contents of the copypasta, it claims that Japan is turning footsteps into electricity using something called "piezoelectric tiles." These tiles turn pressure into energy. So, when you step on the tiles, they essentially turn your footsteps into electricity.

It's a genuinely fascinating piece of technology, and it's kind of nice that the word is being spread, even if it's through a dumb copypasta. Recently, Reels users have become hyperaware of the copypasta's use, inspiring memes that poke fun at its presence on the app.

Examples

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We'll be back next Friday with another edition of our Weekly Meme Roundup series, so stay tuned!