He Will Never Be Ballin'

About

He Will Never Be Ballin', often spelled He Will Never Ballin', refers to a series of memes in which someone casts doubts that a certain person or character will ever be "ballin'" with their claim then immediately disproved when that character is shown playing basketball. The meme began in January 2019 as a version of He Will Never Have a Girlfriend, which, in turn, is a subformat of Cereal Guy, but has acquired an independent identity since. The format is closely related to I'm Fucking Ballin!

Origin

Prior to January 16th, 2019, an unknown user posted a "He Will Never Have a Girlfriend" meme recaptioned "He will never ballin'." The image used two images of a toad, one sitting on the ground and the other, created by a Worth1000 user for a Photoshop contest in 2010, standing on a basketball court and holding a basketball under its arm.

On January 16th and 19th, Instagram^[1] user nakedpopsicles and Redditor^[2] WheresMuhMuneh made the two earliest reposts of the image, with their posts gaining over 3,000 likes and 4,400 upvotes in two years, respectively (image shown below).

In addition to spawning the "He Will Never Be Ballin'" meme, the image triggered the ironic popularity of "He Will Never X" memes in the first half of 2019.

Spread

In the following months, the image received viral spread online through reposts on Reddit and Instagram. For example, on January 20th, 2019, Redditor datrifcemstr reposted the image to /r/comedyheaven^[3] subreddit, where it gained over 16,300 upvotes.

The earliest memes based on the image started to appear in late January 2019 on Reddit. On January 21st, Redditor MrMonsterx posted the first known meme based on the image to /r/okbuddyretard^[4] subreddit, where it gained over 1,700 upvotes in six months (shown below, left). On January 22nd, 2019, Redditor Fish___Face posted another edit based on the image to /r/ComedyNecrophilia^[5] subreddit, where it gained over 200 upvotes (shown below, right).

The format did not see viral spread until late August 2020, when an unknown Twitter user posted an "Ace Attorney Courtroom Argument" created in objection.lol in which Miles Edgeworth argued Mario would not be balling, only to be immediately disproven (reupload shown below, left). On August 28th, 2020, YouTuber^[6] Silas made the earliest reupload of the meme. On August 29th, popular Twitter^[7] account @OutOfContextEv reposted the meme.

On September 21st, 2021, Twitter^[8] user @DeadcoShopToday posted a voiced version of the meme, with the video gaining over 205,000 views, 9,200 retweets and 27,700 likes in two years. On October 16th, 2020, DeadcoShopToday reposted the video to YouTube^[9] (shown below, right).

Following the viral spread of both original and voiced edits, He Will Never Be Ballin' memes, as well as related I'm Fuckin Ballin!!! memes, achieved a significant online presence in late 2020. For example, on December 6th, 2020, iFunny^[10] user iOhioan posted a meme that gained over 4,600 smiles in one year (shown below, left). On January 24th, 2021, iFunny^[11] user TomClancy posted a Lady Dimitrescu meme that received over 740 smiles in the same period (shown below, right).

Both formats maintained notable popularity in 2021.

Related Memes

I'm Fuckin Ballin!!!

I'm Fuckin Ballin!!! refers to a series of videos in which various characters are depicted playing basketball, captioned "Im fucking ballin!!!" Originating from a still image of Courage the Cowardly Dog character Eustace captioned in that fashion, the format gained notable popularity after an Ace Attorney variation became viral in March 2020. The format has often been used in conjunction with Your Honor snowclone.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References