There's a Japanese name that's appearing all over Twitter / X at the moment. It's "Saeko" for those who don't know. It's all because of one infamous tweet.

The "Saeko" tweet was posted earlier this week and has led to controversy and backlash for the original user who posted it. The woman in question outlined a recent conversation between her and her therapist who deadnamed her and refused to correct. While many believed that her therapist was in the wrong, people also thought that she was too.

So, what is the "Saeko" tweet? Why's it so viral? Let's explain.

Who Is Saeko On Twitter / X?

Saeko refers to Twitter / X user @Saeko_Cut. She's a 33-year-old transgender woman who has over 26,000 followers as of October 2024.

She originally amassed a following for funny tweets which have all accrued over the past few years. While many joke about her status as an LGBTQ+ person, others do not. Some have gone insanely viral, like one Ki Taek Driving meme from the movie Parasite that earned her over 200,00 likes.

What Did Saeko Tweet?

The tweet that spawned all of the memes about Saeko was sent by her earlier this week. It outlined a conversation she had with her new therapist who apparently refused to call her by Saeko. This is called "deadnaming," as in, when someone refuses to use a trans person's new name.

Saeko's tweet received a lot of likes and supportive remarks from her mutuals and friends. However, the tweet soon spread outside of her immediate circle where laymen thought that Saeko was an odd name choice.

Why Did Saeko Receive Backlash?

Initially, other queer people and people with nuanced voices reiterated one counterpoint back to Saeko: that her therapist was in the wring for deadnaming her, but, she probably shouldn't go by Saeko. Many believed that Saeko was white and that choosing Saeko, a Japanese name, was cultural appropriation.

This belief then tapped into a lot of people's cringe receptors, attuned to the two memes Thing, Japan and Weeaboo which both mock white people who are overly obsessed with anything Japanese.

Saeko responded, saying, "I'm not white." However, she gave no further explanation or evidence to back up the claim and many resurfaced her selfies, doing their own detective work. The consensus was, even if she wasn't fully white, she was still white presenting, meaning she had access to white privilege.

From there, viral jokes ensued about a white person naming themself Saeko. People wondered what it'd be like if Saeko had chosen another nationality, like, what if she went by Ngembo.

Sadly, many of the jokes (if not all) veered into transphobia and all players involved started to look bad. Overall, Saeko became Twitter's main character for the day. Only time will tell if she'll keep going by her name and only a 23 and Me test will tell if she's Japanese. Either way, she should get a new therapist.

Saeko and her therapist when they work it out on the remix pic.twitter.com/tUGJw087xq

— isabella (@blizzy_mcguire) October 10, 2024

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For the full history of the "Saeko" Tweet, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's entry for even more information.