About

Jungkook Phelps refers to a series of jokes, memes and conversations about K-Pop star and BTS member Jeon Jungkook participating in a swimming competition with Michael Phelps, following a tweet that showed Jungkook swimming.

Origin

On May 22nd, 2019, the verified BTS account tweeted a video of Jungkook swimming. The post received more than 450,000 retweets, 1.3 million views and 4.3 views in 24 hours (shown below).^[1]

Spread

That day, Twitter user @jeoonjungkooks posted a GIF getting out of a pool that received more than 2,000 retweets and 8,700 likes in 24 hours (shown below).

Swimmer Jeon Jungkook coming through your timeline #Jk pic.twitter.com/ZcWlug5hpz

— ‏ً (@jeoonjungkooks) May 22, 2019

As the conversation about the video continued, people began jokingly comparing Jungkook to Olympian Michael Phelps. Twitter^[2] user @joonstopia tweeted, "Notice how he’s going faster than Michael Phelps." The tweet received more than 400 retweets and 2,300 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Twitter^[3] user @nesquikslady tweeted a photoshopped Jungkook's face on to Phelps' body. The post received more than 950 retweets and 4,600 likes in 24 hours (shown below, center).

Soon, Michael Phelps became a worldwide trending topic because of the jokes about him and Jungkook. Twitter^[4] user @solvmates tweeted, "WE GOT MICHAEL PHELPS TRENDING BECAUSE OF JUNGKOOK'S VIDEO!! I CANT BREATHE." The tweet received more than 980 retweets and 4,700 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

That day, Twitter^[5] published an Events page about the conversation about Jungkook Phelps.

Additionally, on May 22nd, Redditor ^[6] OfficialPotato asked the /r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit "Why are people talking about Michael Phelps on Twitter, who is Jungkook, and what do the two have to do with each other?" The post received more than 3,400 points (93% upvoted) and 270 comments in 24 hours. Redditor^[7] Eve0529 responded:

Answer: Jungkook is a Korean pop star from the boy group BTS. He recently posted a swimming video to twitter, where his fans (known as ARMYs) have collectively decided that he should race Michael Phelps. Honestly this bandwagoning isn't too out of the ordinary, ARMYs are known to be dedicated at best and rabid at the worst (saying this as a fan of BTS myself).

Edit: Also, having worked as a swim instructor myself, I can in fact confirm that he is NOT the next Phelps. He's good, but needs some work on his technique. He did a good job though, swimming is a fantastic activity!

Several media outlets covered the discussion, including Mashable, ^[8] Newsweek^[9] and more.

Search Interest

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References