Nate, What Are You Doing Man?

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About

Nate, What Are You Doing Man? refers to a scene in the 2016 film Imperium starring actor Daniel Radcliffe (known for portraying Harry Potter) as Nate Foster, an FBI agent undercover as a white supremacist. In the viral scene, Radcliffe's character is at a rally and a Black man in the crowd, someone who knows him, says, "Nate, what are you doing man?" Radcliffe's character then shouts back, "Shut the fuck up!" and finishes his response with the N-word. The scene became a meme on TikTok in 2023 and 2024 (often accused of being used in a racist manner), specifically after it became a Goofy Ahh TikTok sound that used a slowed remix of Ken Carson's "Jennifer's Body."

Origin

On August 19th, 2016, the movie Imperium starring Daniel Radcliffe as Nate Foster released in theaters.^[1] The movie's plot is about an FBI agent (named Nate Foster) who needs to go undercover as a white supremacist. In one scene of the film, Foster is seen at a white supremacist rally where a Black man in the crowd, someone who knows him, says, "Nate, what are you doing man?" Radcliffe's character shouts back, "Shut the fuck up!" and finishes his response with the N-word in an attempt to blend in undercover.

The scene gained meme attention in late 2023 when TikToker^[2] @datman_atzel posted it on November 23rd, 2023, with text reading, "Money changed Harry Potter 😭🙏," gaining over 6 million plays and 1.1 million likes in three months. The video's sound was later removed by TikTok, which included the beat for Ken Carson's song "Jennifer's Body." TikToker^[3] @nikkithevop reposted the video on November 24th, 2023, gaining over 76,000 plays and 1,900 likes in three months (shown below).

@nikkithevop #foryoupage #harrypotterbeingracist ♬ original sound – Sokke 24

Spread

Although TikToker^[2] @datman_atzel's sound was removed by TikTok, the meme persisted through reposts. For instance, on November 29th, 2023, TikToker^[4] @beasthanmainz slowed the sound down in a video that received roughly 526,700 plays and 18,300 likes in three months (shown below, left).

Others on the app then used TikToker^[4] @beasthanmainz's sound,^[5] such as TikToker^[6] @purpletacshotgun on January 29th, 2024, using the Ibai Llanos Explaining Things template and text reading, "Bro yapping about his academic comeback (he's cooked)," receiving over 2 million plays and 377,000 likes in 15 days (shown below, right).

@beasthanmainz Replying to @naruto62937 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎❗❗❗❗❗🐺🐺real#beasthanmainz #dblegends #dbl #fyp #fypシ #viral #abcxyz #xybca #foryoupage #foryou #dragonballlegends #toshi ♬ original sound – MainƵ獣

@purpletacshotgun Fr #fyp ♬ original sound – MainƵ獣

Meme creators continued to use the sound^[5] going into February 2024. In turn, YouTubers started to join the trend, such as YouTuber^[7] Epic Sound Effects on February 6th, 2024, who made a NextBot Chase video referencing the meme, gaining over 7,100 views in one week (shown below).

By February 13th, 2024, the trend's primary TikTok sound^[5] had amassed over 4,300 posts using it.