Stephen Colbert's "Skibidi Biden" Segment

Overview

Stephen Colbert's "Skibidi Biden" Segment refers to a viral sketch on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in which Colbert jokes about the Joe Biden campaign seeking a "Meme Manager," then plays a Skibidi Toilet parody featuring the President. The segment, which aired in late May 2024, went viral online as many reacted with disgust and called it cringeworthy.

Background

On May 20th, 2024, the Joe Biden campaign posted a job opening for a "Partner Manager, Content and Meme Pages" position,^[1] whose responsibilities would include developing "relationships with top digital media companies, podcasters and meme pages across a number of social media platforms."

On May 22nd, late-night host Stephen Colbert^[2] talked about the position in a monologue during The Late Show, joking that the campaign would post outdated and baffling memes. Colbert's examples include an Ermahgerd meme, an "I Can Haz" LOLcat meme and finally, a "Skibidi Toilet" parody with Joe Biden (shown below).

Skibidi Biden!
Skibidi Skibidi Biden!
Skibidi Biden!
Joe! Joe! Joe!
Skibidi Biden!
Hitler’s language!
Trump! Trump!
Trump is using Hitler’s language!
Hitler’s language!
Trump is using Hitler’s language!
Skibidi Skibidi!

Developments

The morning after the show aired, the "Skibidi Biden" portion of the segment spread online out of context, garnering significant reactions from social media users.

For example, on May 23rd, 2024, Twitter / X user @Obamaatredrobin^[3] posted the segment, calling it the "9/11 of television." The tweet gained over 3,600 retweets, 33,000 likes and 7.6 million views in less than 12 hours (shown below).

Others voiced hyperbolically negative reactions to the segment, including some comparisons to Hillary Clinton's infamous "Pokémon GO to the Polls" quote.^[7] On May 23rd, Twitter user @JaubreyYT^[4] tweeted, "I watched this and now blood is pouring out of my eyes and ears," gaining over 740 retweets and 13,000 likes in less than 12 hours (shown below, left).

The same day, Twitter user @CantEverDie^[5] tweeted, "I’m a starving child starving to death and this is the very last thing I have ever watched. gootbye," gaining over 220 retweets and 4,600 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

Others argued the segment was better in the context of Colbert's broader joke about Biden making out-of-touch memes. On May 23rd, 2024, Twitter user @ponurykot^[6] pointed this out in a tweet that gained 13 retweets and 50 likes in three hours (shown below, left). User @rwmead^[8] pointed it out the same day, gaining six retweets and 11 likes in two hours (shown below, right).

The sketch also appeared in numerous Reddit threads, typically discussing its cringeworthiness.^[9][10]

Search Interest

External References