About

"I Dropped My Hot Pocket" is a memorable quote said by Merrendes Jackson, a resident of Blytheville, Arkansas, during an interview for a local news report about a fatal shooting in a residential neighborhood that aired in May 2016. In describing how he reacted to the sound of the first gunshots, Jackson stated that they startled him so much that he accidentally dropped his microwavable turnover on the ground. Due to its comical out-of-placeness, the quote has been sampled in dozens of short remix videos on Vine.

Origin

On May 12th, 2016, Northeast Arkansas' local news channel Region 8^[1] reported on a series of seven shootings that happened over the course of 24 hours on the previous day, which featured an eyewitness interview with two local youths, Robert Moss and Merrendes Jackson. During the interview segment, Merrendes recounted how he accidentally dropped his Hot Pocket meal from shock after hearing the first gunshots. On the next day, YouTuber Susan Shanneil White uploaded a phone-recorded video clip of the newscast to her channel^[12], where it gained over 444,800 views within the first month.

Robert Moss: I just kept hearing it. I am ducking and everything – diving in the house. I mean, I got scared.

Merrendes Jackson: I dropped my Hot Pocket. Like – like, I heard them, it was like they were firing back and forth at each – I was like, man what do they sound like firecrackers.

Spread

On May 15th, 2016, Redditor thatdudeman52 posted the interview to the subreddit /r/videos^[1], where it gained over 4,700 upvotes in under a month. On May 16th, 2016, Vine user viral shark media posted a Vine combining the quote with Snoop Dogg's 2004 hit rap single "Drop It Like It's Hot" (shown below, left). The clip gained over three million loops and 79 thousand likes in under a month. On May 18th, 2016, Viner lol adam posted a Vine combining the quote with Kanye West's 2011 song "Monster" (shown below, right). The Vine gained over 290,000 loops and 11,000 likes in less than a month.

On May 16th, the viral quote from the newscast was picked up by several music and entertainment news sites, including Bossip^[5], WorldStarHipHop^[6] and Uproxx^[7], as well as a couple of food blogs, First We Feast^[3] and Foodbeast.^[4] On May 17th, a compilation of notable Vine remixes was uploaded to Twitter^[9] as a Moment playlist.

Various Examples

In the following month, more than 170 instances of short remix videos featuring the quote cropped up on Vine.^[10]

Willowbook, Illinois Storm Interview

On May 31st, 2016, Chicago's Fox-affiliate news channel Fox32^[11] reported on an emergency evacuation of residents from an apartment building after its roof was damaged by a storm that had recently swept across Willowbook, Illinois. When the reporter asked two brothers, Anthony and Niquan Kandler, to recount what they saw as the roof collapsed into their apartment unit on the top floor, Niquan was quoted as saying:

Niquan Candler: I grabbed food out of the microwave and then when the roof came off, it was loud and I dropped my plate and I dropped my hot pocket.

Search Interest

External References