Bald Nonce / Now I'm Panicking
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About
Bald Nonce refers to a series of remixes based on a viral video of a confrontation between COBRA UK (Children Online Battling Real Abuse), a child predator hunting group, and an alleged pedophile. On TikTok, the video has been used in audio clips in which the man says "I'm panicking because I'm going to lose me job."
Origin
On April 12th, 2019, COBRA UK streamed a confrontation between the group and Ryan Hitchens, a British man accused of contacting an underage girl for sexual purposes, on Facebook. [1] The video received more than 293,000 views, 3,800 reactions and 2,200 shares in less than one year (mirror below).
Spread
On September 14th, Twitter user @JackTheGooner tweeted a video of a man confronting Hitchens in a public restroom. They wrote, "So my mate met the bald nonce in some pub toilets…" The video received more than 1.8 million views, 35,000 likes and 6,800 retweets in less than 24 six months (shown below).
So my mate met the bald nonce in some pub toilets… pic.twitter.com/oqpPHaSahJ
— Jack Goddard (@JackTheGooner) September 14, 2019
On October 3rd, 2019, YouTuber Bald Nonce published a compilation of clips from the video. The post entitled "BALD NONCE BEST QUOTES" received more than 1 million views in less than five months (shown below, left).
About two weeks later, YouTuber TWH published a remix that received more than 542,000 views in less than four months (shown below, right).
On January 24th, 2020, the website The Tab[2] wrote about the video and the memes.
Now I'm Panicking
In 2020, the sound became a popular TikTok lipdub, with TikTokers posting videos in which they lipsync the conversation between Holmes and an unseen party. "Now I'm panicking," says Holmes. "Don't panick," replies someone off camera. "No, I am," Holmes replies, "because I'm going to lose my job." For example, on November 20th, TikToker @totallymelody_ posted a version in which a person lipsyncs the video, joking that it expressed their oven's reaction to the purchase of an airfryer. The post received more than 263,000 reactions and 1,300 comments in less than three months (shown below, left). Three days later, on November 22nd, TikToker @mark.reyess posted a version featuring a cat kneading a person. The post received more than 1.6 million reactions and 16,000 comments in less than three months (shown below, right).
As of January 29th, 2021, the sound has been used in more than 43,000 views.[3] That day, The Daily Dot [4] published an article about the origins of the video.
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6897451476537412870
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6898082573222743301
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[2] The Tab – The true story behind the bald man meme is actually pretty disturbing
[3] TikTok – Original sound
[4] Daily Dot – That One Sound: The dark origin of ‘Now I’m panicking’ on TikTok
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