A Barbershop Haircut That Costs a Quarter
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Related Explainer: What's The 'A Barbershop Haircut That Costs A Quarter' Meme? The 'Newsies' Song Gone Viral On TikTok Explained
A Barbershop Haircut That Costs a Quarter
Part of a series on Viral Videos. [View Related Entries]
About
A Barbershop Haircut That Costs a Quarter, also known as A Barbershop Haircut That Cost a Quarta or A Barbershop Haircut That Cost a Qwarta, refers to a clip of an amateur production of the musical Newsies in which one actor delivers the line, "A barbershop haircut that costs a quarter," in the song "King of New York." He sings it with an inflected New York accent, making "quarter" sound like "quarta" or "qwarta." People in the audience are heard cheering when the actor delivers the line. The actor's name is Kevin James Sievert (@kevinjamessievert), and the original video went viral on TikTok in 2021. It resurfaced en masse in 2025 due to viral reposts, which led to Accuracy Meme Reenactments of the moment.
Origin
On March 3rd, 2021, TikToker[2] @jordanarrasmith posted a video that showed a scene in the musical Newsies when the song "King of New York" is performed by the actors. The scene centered on the line, "A barbershop haircut that costs a quarter," which was delivered by TikToker[3] @kevinjamessievert. The video had text overlay as well, reading, "Y'all, I'm about to quit my job because this is gonna steal the whole thing." The video received over 151,900 likes in four years.
On December 11th, 2023, TikToker[1] @shawndholmes posted the original video, saying that @jordanarrasmith had gotten it from him. The TikToker geo-tagged the video in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It gained over 1.9 million likes in two years (shown below).
@shawndholmes Since @Jordan L. Arrasmith didnt give me video AND end laugh credit…WORLD, this is my little brother @Kevin Sievert, and he is AMAZING!!! #disneytiktok #newsies #newsiesthemusical #kingofnewyork #kingofnewyorknewsies #tenor #optionup ♬ original sound – Shawn Holmes
Spread
On January 10th, 2024, Instagram[5] user @marynaaksenov reposted the video with text reading, "Bro had the entire audience in less than 10 seconds," gaining over 1.7 million likes in a year (shown below).
On March 1st, 2024, TikToker[4] @athanhernandez7 reposted the abovementioned video, gaining over 416,000 likes in a year.
The video resurfaced en masse in 2025 when TikToker[6] @mokamochaa posted an Accuracy Meme Reenactment of the original video on May 14th, 2025, gaining over 210,200 likes in 15 days (shown below).
@mokamochaa i dreamt this #newsies #musical #remake ♬ original sound – akemonte :)
Various Examples
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7506860209638264107
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7509198778449038614
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7508908504695016735
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7508403128224566559
Search Interest
External References
[1] TikTok – @shawndholmes
[2] TikTok – @jordanarrasmith
[3] TikTok – @kevinjamessievert
[4] TikTok – @athanhernandez7
[5] Instagram – @marynaaksenov
[6] TikTok – @mokamochaa
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