Meme review
The Weekly Meme Roundup: Not What I'm Called, Gingers Are Black, Cat Shadows And More
Welcome back to the Weekly Meme Roundup, where we show you five of the biggest memes of the past week that you probably didn't see if you have any semblance of a life.
This week on the internet, TikTokers were rocked by the concept of all gingers being Black, actress Bella Ramsey became the target of some memes she'd probably rather not see (if you're reading this Bella, turn back) and every character under the sun got misnamed thanks to the "Not What I'm Called" meme format.
Here are the five best memes of the week for you to sink your teeth into.
Gingers Are Black
Gingers everywhere learned something shocking this week, and for once, it has nothing to do with their souls.
@scorpiostellyla1meramera
Recently, a TikToker posted a strange video boldly proclaiming, with no context at all, that all "gingers are Black." She later elaborated in another video, claiming it's because of the Haitian deity Brigette Samedi and her ties to Irish people, which honestly doesn't make the claim that much clearer.
Regardless, the video went viral with over 7 million views and was quickly picked up by red-headed TikTokers, who comedically embraced their newfound racial identity and started posting videos playing into the claim.
Ginger TikTokers have been going viral all week with videos that make jokes about learning they're Black, which typically see them doing some lighthearted, stereotypically Black things to highlight the absurdity of the original video's claim.
Nobody is taking the video too seriously, making for a fun and unexpected meme trend that's absolutely dominated social media this week.
Examples
@ragzfit So does this mean I get the pass or na? #dance #trend #ginger #redhead #orangeisthenewblack #redvelvet ♬ Forget Me Nots – 12" Version – Patrice Rushen
@delamomanny Redheads are black
@mzladyred2230 👩🏼🦰🤘🏼🤪 #fyp #ginger #redhead #gingersoftiktok #gingersareblack ♬ Right Thurr – Chingy
@thegabebollinger Gingers are black now #gingers ♬ 2 Phones – Kevin Gates
Bella Ramsey's Face
The second season of The Last Of Us is about halfway through at this point, and some unhappy fans have decided to aim their sights at lead actress Bella Ramsey's face in what's become an undeniably prevalent and often cruel series of memes.
On the lighter end of the spectrum, the memes are being used to criticize the casting choice of Bella Ramsey as Ellie, who admittedly does not look a whole lot like her video game counterpart. It could be argued that Pedro Pascal also doesn't really resemble the video game version of Joel, but we guess that's not important to internet trolls and memers.
On the heavier side of the meme, people are tearing apart the way that Bella Ramsey's face looks with memes that liken her to a barn owl, compare her to the Pale Lady from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and all sorts of other generally mocking things.
While there have been a lot of these memes popping up lately, especially thanks to the Bella Ramsey Shooting a Gun meme, they've also inspired a lot of people to come to the young actress' defense, some of whom claim that her acting talents and portrayal of the character's personality overcome the fact that she doesn't look a whole lot like Ellie.
Examples
Not What I'm Called
A year-old meme that plays off Homer's epic poem The Odyssey came back in a big way this week as meme lovers found fun ways to misname their favorite characters.
The meme is known as "Not What I'm Called" and was first posted to Tumblr in June 2024. The original meme shows a character mistakingly calling the cyclops Polyphemus from The Odyssey "Polyamorous," which is obviously a very different thing.
The meme gained 85,000 notes in just a few months, and by October, it had garnered viral spread across social media. That same month, it inspired an edit where the cyclops is replaced with a Polybius machine, starting a wave of memes that wouldn't peak until this week.
New versions of the meme have been going viral all over X, Tumblr and Instagram recently, most of which replace the cyclops with a popular character and "polyamorous" with another word that kind of sounds like their name.
It's kind of like the name soundalikes meme but in an arguably more fun, visually interesting format, undoubtedly assisting in its recent virality.
Examples
Cat Shadow Trend
Shadow puppets got a slick new upgrade recently after Tumblr user insecure001 posted a photo of herself making an impressive cat shadow that sparked a whole trend.
The photo, which shows the girl crouching and positioning her hands in a specific way in front of her face to make her shadow resemble a cat, was reposted to X recently and blew up with over 670,000 likes in about a week. But people weren't ready to forget about the photo so fast.
Instead, they turned it into a redraw meme in which popular characters are drawn over the Tumblr user to show them making the cat shadow for themselves.
Some of these art pieces put a spin on the meme by adding other elements to the cat shadow, while others look to copy it exactly.
Ultimately, it's a cute and very versatile meme format, and it's been going viral just about wherever it pops up. Never underestimate the power of cats on the internet.
Examples
The Catherine Method
Finally, Austin McBroom of the broken Ace Family inadvertently inspired a huge TikTok meme known as the Catherine Method this week when he shared a bizarre series of texts from his ex-wife Catherine.
@userxtiktokshopaff He was wrong for cheating yes. But I’m honestly 50/50 .. what do yall think ? #fypシ #austinmcbroom #catherinepaiz #chisme #fypシ゚viral ♬ original sound – goldenaura
The video that inspired the memes comes from Austin's Snapchat channel. Recently, he's been exposing some stuff about Catherine after news that she has a book coming out in July went viral.
According to reports, she's going to expose a whole lot of stuff about her divorce in the book, including elaborating on the details of Austin cheating on her.
In one of Austin's Snapchat videos, he shows viewers a series of strange texts she once sent him consisting of several out-of-context spiritual-looking images, asking, "What does that mean?" and wondering, "What type of language is that?"
The video was reposted to TikTok and blew up, inspiring users to try Catherine's method for themselves. Since then, numerous videos have gone viral showing people sending their crushes and significant others some similarly cryptic images to see what sort of response they get.
Examples
@damita_0710 This is the only thing he answered to all day !! #catherinemcbroom got the method yall !! #fy #fyp #austin #cheater #relateable #relationshipgoals ♬ original sound – goldenaura
@ashcash7774 “does that make me joseph” BYE 😭😭 #viral #fyp ♬ original sound – goldenaura
@tu_gallito_ Maybe cathrine was on to something #austinmcbroom #cathrinemcbroom #acefamilydrama #trending #drama #fypシ #fyp #jakepaul #ishowspeed #wendyortiz ♬ original sound – goldenaura
@iputalovespellonyou Anything to make me happy apparently 💀 #catherinemcbroom #fyp #trending ♬ original sound – goldenaura
We'll be back next Friday with another edition of our Weekly Meme Roundup series, so stay tuned!
