About

He Don't Got Internet, also known as He Don't Have Internet, refers to a quote from rapper Young Thug said about NBA player James Harden after Harden posted a photo of himself wearing a Blue Lives Matter Punisher Skull mask in 2020. Some people were offended by Harden's wardrobe choice and tried to cancel him online. Young Thug likened the mishap to Harden's lack of internet use, saying, "He don't have internet." A tweet from the account Say Cheese, which showed Young Thug holding a basketball and Harden's Punisher photo, went viral online and became an exploitable template in the following years. The catchphrase gained use as well, commonly applied to similar situations where a person seemed to lack pop culture awareness, which could result in their cancellation. The He Don't Got Internet meme resurfaced en masse in early June 2025 when hip-hop producer TDF posted a photo of himself wearing a skull mask, often associated with the Call of Duty character Ghost but also sometimes neo-Nazis. Fans on TikTok used He Don't Got Internet to justify it and shared edits that red-circled the word "internet" in other videos to then transition into a Hyperborea and Agartha edit of TDF, set to a remix of the Bladee song "Talk To Me Nice."

Origin

On July 16th, 2020, the official X^[2] account of the NBA posted two photos of player James Harden, seen wearing a Blue Lives Matter Punisher Skull mask. The tweet received over 7,000 likes in five years (shown below).

The photos immediately elicited backlash against Harden because a month before, the Black Lives Matter movement had gained increased attention due to the death of George Floyd and protests across the U.S. against racially motivated police brutality. According to outlets like CNN^[3] at the time, other members of the Black community felt betrayed by Harden.

Also, according to CNN^[3] and other outlets, Harden responded to the backlash, saying, "I thought it looked cool, that was it."

On July 17th, 2020, rapper Young Thug posted a tweet^[4] about the situation, writing, "Just so you know, James Harden is my brada… BTW, he don't have internet so he obviously don’t know what’s right or wrong…" The tweet gained over 43,000 likes in five years (shown below).

On July 17th, 2020, the X^[1] account @SaycheeseDGTL posted a side-by-side photo of rapper Young Thug holding a basketball and NBA player James Harden, seen with his arms crossed and wearing the Blue Lives Matter mask. The caption read, "Young Thug defends James Harden for wearing a pro-police facemask: 'He don't have internet.'" The tweet received over 3,600 likes in five years (shown below).

The tweet would later become the leading exploitable template and visual reference for the He Don't Got Internet meme.

Spread

Screenshots of the Say Cheese tweet were reposted in the following years, like on April 29th, 2021, when X^[5] user @swagjesusfan posted a cropped screenshot of the tweet, receiving over 53,000 likes in four years (shown below).

The abovementioned screenshot was shared to the /r/Hiphopcirclejerk^[6] subreddit on August 19th, gaining over 2,700 upvotes in four years.

The meme continued to resurface in the following years, like on September 21st, 2023, when X^[7] user @bigguccicraigy quote-tweeted the original tweet, saying, "I never seen a nigga get saved from getting canceled this quick in my life," gaining over 37,000 likes in two years (shown below).

On April 7th, 2025, X^[8] user @IcyVert quote-tweeted a photo of Japanese MLB player Shohei Ohtani meeting U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. He wrote, "He don't got internet," receiving over 30,000 likes in two months (shown below).

TDF "He Don't Got Internet"

Sometime in early 2025, a photo allegedly of rap producer TDF surfaced online in which he's wearing a skull facemask. The facemask is worn in Call of Duty but is also known for its ties to neo-Nazis.

It's unclear where the photo came from, but on January 24th, 2025, Instagram^[9] user @leanopp shared the earliest known post with the photo, which compared it to the webcam image of the Nashville, Tennessee, Antioch High School shooter. The text caption said that TDF was "tripping." Over five months, the post gained roughly 5,500 likes (shown below).

On March 19th, the photo resurfaced, when Instagram^[10] user @bandyhaps posted a recaptioned version of the original He Don't Got internet tweet, replacing words to read, "1oneam defends TDF for wearing Neo-Nazi facemask: 'He don't have internet.'" 1oneam was another producer in TDF's sphere. Over three months, the post gained roughly 3,600 likes (shown below).

On May 25th, 2025, TikToker^[11] @owesumm shared a Hyperborea and Agartha edit featuring popular underground rappers and producers, such as Nettspend, gaining over 3,000 likes in 11 days.

The TikToker received increased engagement when the Agartha edits focused on the alleged TDF photo and the He Don't Got Internet catchphrase.

For instance, on June 1st, TikToker^[12] @owesumm posted a clip of streamer IShowSpeed in Mongolia, which featured the word "internet" in the caption. The edit circled the word in red, like the Red Circle Perpetrators format, and then transitioned to a TDF Agartha edit, gaining over 39,600 likes in four days (shown below).

Various Examples

Templates

Search Interest

External References