About

The Girls Are Fighting is a catchphrase used to joke about people falling out with each other publicly. The phrase was popularized by a 2019 video of American singer Azealia Banks commenting on the feud between Nicki Minaj and Cardi B in which she says, "Whaaat? What is the tea, the girls are fighting! Nooo… the girls are fighting, why?!" The Instagram Live became a notable reaction video in subsequent years, while the phrase "the girls are fighting" came to be used to joke about former friends having public disagreements. In early June 2025, AOC notably quoted the phrase to joke about Elon Musk and Donald Trump having a public falling out, causing a resurgence in the meme.

Origin

On September 8th, 2018, Azealia Banks hosted an Instagram Live reacting to Nicki Minaj and Cardi B engaging in a public altercation at New York Fashion Week, using a bunny filter to record herself saying, "Whaaat? What is the tea, the girls are fighting! Nooo… the girls are fighting, why?!"

YouTuber^[1] SATIRICATIVE reposted the clip on September 8th, 2018, gathering over 6,000 likes in seven years.

Spread

On February 16th, 2019, Tumblr^[2] user @gluten-free-p*ssy posted a Presidential Alert meme that read, "THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTINGGGG" on February 16th, 2019, gathering over 390,000 notes in six years.

On August 8th, 2022, X^[3] user @Iuvjjkoo tweeted about singer Charli Puth and producer Benny Blanco supposedly arguing with each other publicly, writing, "why am I just finding out that benny blanco and charlie puth have a beef? and benny has even attacked him on tiktok lmao the girls are fighting." The post gathered over 17,000 likes in three years.

On August 31st, 2024, Tumblr^[4] user @pankenlewd made a post that read, "the girls are fightingggggg [readjusts my glasses, squinting] by god… it appears i was mistaken. they're…my goodness…by god," in late August 2024, gathering over 100,000 notes in ten months.

AOC's 'The Girls Are Fighting, Aren't They' Comment

On June 5th, 2025, X^[5] user @gtconway3d posted a clip of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) quoting the meme to joke about Elon Musk and Donald Trump having a public falling out, gathering over 4.3 million views and 150,000 likes in a day.

“The girls are fighting, aren't they?” pic.twitter.com/JwxbuHhkMK

— George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 (@gtconway3d) June 6, 2025

Some Bluesky users criticized the phrase "the girls are fighting" as "sexist," as seen in a now-deleted post by @elizaorlins. X^[6] user @angel_0f_deathx reacted to the news by writing, "they’re on bluesky arguing whether it’s sexist to make 'the girls are fighting' jokes," on June 5th, gathering over 60,000 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References