It's Ma'am
About
"It's Ma'am" is a quote taken from a viral video in which a trans woman proclaims "It's ma'am" while accusing an employee of misgendering at a GameStop retail store in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Following the altercation, the trans woman in the video identified herself as Tiffany Michelle and released a rap music video under the stage name saraTonin.
Origin
On December 28th, 2018, a video began circulating of a confrontation that occurred at a New Mexico GameStop store, in which a trans woman threatens an employee and demands to be called "ma'am," claiming that the employee used an incorrect gender term. According to the Daily Wire,[7] the video was originally uploaded to Facebook by user Tom Smith. That day, the video was reuploaded by the BignNews YouTube channel (shown below).
Spread
On December 28th, the video was reposted to WorldStarHipHop.[3] On December 29th, ResetEra Forums[6] user Flagless submitted the DailyWire article about the incident in a thread titled "Transgender Woman Threatens GameStop Employee After Being Misgendered." The user was subsequently banned by moderators for "linking to a hate site." On December 30th, reporter Katelyn Burns tweeted[2] that "every trans woman" she follows was "getting harassment about her womanhood" as a result of the video going viral (shown below).
On December 31st, a photoshopped image combining the GameStop customer with the character He-Man was submitted to 9gag, where it gathered upwards of 4,100 points over the next four days (shown below).
On January 1st, 2019, Redditor moedelawndotcom posted a photoshopped Superman film poster of the GameStop customer (shown below, left). Within 48 hours, the post garnered more than 1,300 points (96% upvoted) and 45 comments on /r/the_donald.[4] The following day, Redditor illwill_lbc83 submitted an image featuring a screenshot from the 1997 film Titanic superimposed with the GameStop customer's face to /r/OffensiveMemes[5] (shown below, right).
SaraTonin Rap Video
On February 12th, 2019, Tiffany Michelle tweeted a music video of herself rapping about the GameStop video under the stage name SaraTonin (shown below).
What's good. I make dope music with talented people. Yall should listen! Much love!💖💋 pic.twitter.com/WsJbkQkUII
— saraTonin (@saraTonin79er) February 12, 2019
On February 17th, viral news Twitter feed @TheScoop_US tweeted a short explainer featuring a clip of the music video (shown below).
Viral “it's Ma’am” GameStop customer is now a rapper named "saraTONIN."
Do you thinkxxl</a> should put "saraTONIN" on the 2019 freshma’am list? <a href="https://t.co/oof6SsloU9">pic.twitter.com/oof6SsloU9</a></p>— 🏳️🌈⃠ THE SCOOP 🏳️🌈⃠ (TheScoop_US) February 17, 2019
Search Interest
External References
[1] Facebook – since deleted Facebook post
[2] Twitter – @transscribe
[3] WorldStarHipHop – Transgender Woman Spazzes Out on a Gamestop Employee
[4] Reddit – /r/the_donald
[5] Reddit – /r/OffensiveMemes
[6] ResetEra – Transgender Woman Threatens Gamestop Employee
[7] The Daily Wire – Transgender Customer Threatens To Fight GameStop Employee
