Hey It's Me Goku / Goku Cancer Edits

About

Hey It's Me Goku, also known as Goku Cancer Edits, refers to a series of video edits on YouTube and TikTok in which Goku from Dragon Ball Z, through an AI voice, gives motivational advice or says something uncharacteristic, always beginning with the line, "Hey, it's me Goku," taken from the video game Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. In January 2023, a version of the meme where Goku is edited over videos of people, usually kids, who have beaten cancer, often starting with the same line before saying, "Is that all you've got, faggot?" became popularized on TikTok.

Origin

The audio clip of Goku saying, "Hey it's me, Goku," originally comes from the video game Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, released in October 2016. The clip was used in memes as early as August 15th, 2017, when YouTuber^[1] Zorya uploaded an ironic ASMR roleplay video where Goku attempts to break into a house while repeating the line "It's me, Goku," gaining over 600,000 views in six years (shown below, left). On February 21st, 2020, when YouTuber^[2] hey it's me goku! posted a meme video including the full line "Hey, it's me, Goku," garnering over 968,000 views in three years (shown below, right).

On August 28th, 2020, YouTuber^[3] rise posted an edit of a Dragon Ball Z preview in which Goku first says, "Hey it's me, Goku," then goes on, through an AI voice program, to request that the viewer sucks him off and calls the viewer a faggot multiple times, garnering over 356,000 views in three years (shown below, left). On September 19th, the same YouTuber^[4] posted a sequel video depicting a conversation between Goku and Frieza, starting with the line, "He it's me, Goku. Is that all you've got, faggot?" garnering over 207,000 views in three years (shown below, right).

Spread

On November 7th, 2021, TikToker^[5] @yuki..kai posted a video edit beginning with a clip of a man in Superman cosplay arm wrestling and losing to a kid with a disability, followed by a clip of Goku knocking at the door yelling, "Hey it's me, Goku," garnering over 8,700 views in just over a year. On October 29th, 2022, TikToker @kestomotivation began posting motivational advice videos spoken as if by Goku, starting with the line followed by a motivational speech. For example, on November 17th, 2022, the TikToker^[6] uploaded a video where Goku encourages users to spread positivity, garnering over 21,000 views in two months (shown below, left). On January 1st, 2023, TikToker^[7] @thakingcaleb posted a video where he does pushups to a reupload of the audio, garnering over 315,000 views in a month (shown below, right).

Throughout January 2023, TikTokers started taking videos of cancer patients and people with diseases and other illnesses and editing clips of Goku over them, often starting with lines like, "Hey, it's me Goku," "Is that all you've got, f*****?" and other clips associated with the memes. For example, on January 19th, TikToker^[8] @bsyzeno posted a clip like this, garnering over 612,000 views in two weeks (shown below).

On January 21st, 2023, TikTokers^[9][10] @astagotfx and @fw.vizuals posted similar edits, garnering over 747,000 views and 498,000 views, respectively, in just over a week (shown below, left and right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References