Butcher "Oi Homelander Took Me Son"

About

Butcher "Oi Homelander Took Me Son" or Butcher "Oi" is a series of memes referencing The Boys TV show character Billy Butcher (played by Karl Urban), his repeated use of the word "oi" as a greeting and the fact that Homelander killed his wife and stole his son. The Butcher "Oi" memes were first popularized on Reddit in 2022 and were further popularized on social media in 2024 during the run of The Boys season four, inspiring memes on sites like X / Twitter, Reddit and TikTok in which Butcher is quoted as saying a line like, "Oi oi, Homelander took me son" followed by a joke about Starlight Mogging or M.M.'s outfits.

Origin

In The Boys, the character The Butcher, a British superhero parodying The Punisher, says "oi" as a greeting (compilation shown below).

On June 26th, 2022, Redditor u/SujayShah13 posted an image macro to the subreddit /r/TheBoys^[1] captioned, "This was the oiest 'oi' ever oied" alongside an image of Butcher's face subtitled "oi," garnering over 18,000 upvotes in two years (shown below). This is the earliest known meme to reference his use of the term.

Spread

Further memes referencing Butcher's use of the term "oi" became popularized on social media over the following years.

On June 27th, 2022, Redditor u/Phetru posted a photoshop to /r/TheBoys^[2] titled "Tiny Butcher Pt. 2 – 'Oi!'" of a scene from The Boys where Butcher faces Homelander, however, in the photoshop, Butcher appears miniature, garnering over 960 upvotes in two years (shown below, left).

That day, the official @TheBoysTV X^[3] page posted "Oi," garnering over 170,000 likes in two years. They then commented on their own post with an edited tiny Butcher meme with the words "Oi" added beside the character, garnering over 70,000 likes in the same span of time (shown below, right).

Memes including Butcher and his "oi" are frequently posted to the subreddit /r/OkBuddyFresca, a sub dedicated to shitposting memes about The Boys. For example, Redditor u/Safe_Parsley_6330 posted a tiny Butcher meme with "oi!" in the image on July 2nd, 2024, receiving nearly 1,000 upvotes and 20 comments in 17 hours (seen below).^[9]

2024 "Oi Homelander Took Me Son" / Starlight's Face Memes

In 2024, memes using a specific format where Butcher complains about Homelander taking his son and killing his wife were popularized online, many of them featuring Butcher saying "oi." For example, on June 26th, 2024, TikToker^[4] @rickthebstard posted a video following the format, using a snowman to represent Starlight's face, garnering over 5.8 million views in a week (shown below).

On June 28th, TikToker^[5] @brownbakugo posted a video using a similar joke, replacing the Starlight reaction with a representation of Butcher's outfits, garnering over 5.9 million views in five days (shown below, left). On June 29th, TikToker^[6] @artbybamuel posted a video following the trend that gained over 6.5 million views in four days (shown below, right).

On June 30th, Instagram^[7] page zero.dark.thirsty posted a meme following the format that gained over 2,000 likes in three days (shown below). It was reposted by X^[8] user @TheCumpound on July 3rd, garnering over 2,700 likes in under a day.

Various Examples

@jacobweeby Starlight 🤫🧏‍♂️ #theboys #starlight #homelander #billybutcher #skit #fyp #fypツ #funny ♬ original sound – marv • Meap

@mediocre_art_world Bros been mewing😂🙏🏽 #capcut #theboys #starlight #theboysstarlight #plasticsurgery #drawing #art #mew #looksmax #billybutcher #homelander ♬ original sound – marv • Meap

Search Interest

External References