Oof Yikes / I'm Softblocking Right Now / Unfollowing Now
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About
Oof Yikes or I'm Softblocking Right Now, also known as Unfollowing Now, refers to a copypasta that was popularized on Twitter in July 2019 and again in September 2021. The copypasta parodies people responding to a user who alerts them that a person they follow may have done something problematic or socially unacceptable in the past. The copypasta reads, "oof. Yikes 😬 thanks for letting me know. Im softblocking him right now. Sorry I saw a joke tweet he made a while back and followed. didn't know he'd…" followed by a humorously over-the-top bit of evildoing, oftentimes referencing the actions of a fictional character.
Origin
On July 20th, 2019, Twitter user @Turing_Police[1] tweeted "oof. Yikes 😬thanks for letting me know. Im softblocking him right now. Sorry I saw a joke tweet he made a while back and followed. didnt know he’s been trying to end your familys bloodline for seven generations so that his malign magickal influence can ravage the world unchecked," a reference to Dio from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, gaining over 1,500 retweets and 7,000 likes (shown below).
Spread
Over the following several days, the format grew popular on Twitter as users created examples that often referred to a villain in a fictional piece of media. For example, user @SabitoFan[2] made the joke using a Hunter x Hunter reference, gaining over 3,000 retweets and 7,800 likes (shown below, left). User @ravenbones_[3] made the joke using a The Cask of Amontillado reference, gaining over 2,300 retweets and 5,000 likes (shown below, right).
Other popular examples include a post by @rotarydials[4] that referenced Fallout: New Vegas, gaining over 210 retweets and 300 likes (shown below, left) and a tweet by @fightsgod[5] that gained over 600 retweets and 1,100 likes that referenced Devilman Crybaby (shown below, right).
Unfollowing Now
In September 2021, a variation of the meme trended on Twitter. The variation began on September 5th with a tweet by Twitter user ericthurm,[6] who tweeted a joke (shown below) about the Yu-Gi-Oh! character Pegasus. Thurm's tweet received over 21,000 likes and 5,000 retweets within three days.
Thurm's tweet was referring to Tripwire Interactive CEO John Gibson, who tweeted[7] on September 4th that he supported a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court against abortion rights in Texas, saying, "I felt it was important to go on record as a pro-life game developer." Gibson would be fired later that week, and Tripwire would distance itself from Gibson's comments.[8]
In the following days, Thurm's variation, with "softblocking" replaced by "unfollowing," kickstarted a resurgence of the meme as multiple users posted variations. For example, on September 5th, Twitter user @ChillStableGuy[9] tweeted, "wow, ok, unfollowing now. I loved her oatmeal reviews, had no idea she was stealing the oatmeal from a lovable family of three rural bears," a reference to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, gaining over 7,400 retweets and 78,000 likes (shown below, left). On September 7th, the @SparkNotes[10] Twitter account posted a Cask of Amontillado joke, gaining over 1,500 retweets and 9,400 likes (shown below, right).
Various Examples
Search Interest
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External References
[1] Twitter – @Turing_Police
[2] Twitter – @sabitofan
[3] Twitter – @ravenbones_
[4] Twitter – @rotarydials
[5] Twitter – @fightsgod
[6] Twitter – @ericthurm
[7] Twitter – @RammJaeger
[8] Polygon – Tripwire CEO out after tweeting support for Texas abortion ban
[9] Twitter – @chillstableguy
[10] Twitter – @SparkNotes
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