They Hit The Pentagon

About

They Hit The Pentagon or They Hit The Fucking Pentagon is a catchphrase that references American Airlines Flight 77 hitting The Pentagon during the September 11th, 2001 Attacks. In a May 2020 Oneyplays upload on YouTube, Zach Hadel said the phrase, popularizing it and inspiring fan animations and image macros over the following years where various characters yell the phrase.

Origin

On May 27th, 2020, YouTuber^[1] OneyPlays posted a video where Chris O'Neill, Zach Hadel and Lyle Burress play Worms. Around the 14:40 mark, Lyle says "Chris ran into my room and started shaking me and said, 'Lyle! Lyle, wake up! You gotta wake up, please!" Zach chimes in, yelling, "Lyle, Lyle turn on the TV they hit The Pentagon! They hit the fucking Pentagon, Lyle!" (shown below). He then says, "Turn on the TV it doesn't matter what channel."The video gained over 858,000 views in two years.

Spread

The quote became a favorite among fans, inspiring several memes and fan animations over the following years. For example, on May 29th, 2020, Redditor Okgamersletsgetbread posted a drawing to /r/OneyPlays^[2] of Lyle and Zach reacting to the Pentagon being attacked, using the phrase in the title, gaining over 1,300 upvotes in two years. On April 16th, 2021, YouTuber^[3] Griblem posted an animation of the scene, gaining over 196,000 views in a year (shown below, left). On January 21st, 2022, YouTuber^[4] Brandon Turner posted an animation imagining the scene, drawing Zach as his character Charlie from Smiling Friends, gaining over 2.7 million views in three months (shown below, right).

On February 5th, 2022, Twitter^[5] user @Reediculous___ posted a drawing of Charlie saying the phrase, gaining over 530 likes and 50 retweets in two months. On March 19th, a meme using the phrase was posted to /r/okbuddyretard,^[6] gaining over 640 upvotes in a month. On April 15th, Twitter^[7] user @TheThingsEver posted a version of the meme using the red panda from Turning Red, referencing the Turning Red 9/11 Debate, gaining over 208,000 likes and 17,000 retweets in 10 days (shown below).

On April 17th, Twitter^[8] user @EpicFunnyName posted a Lupin the Third meme using the phrase, gaining over 500 likes and 90 retweets in eight days (shown below, left). On April 22nd, Instagram^[9] user stonewallism posted a meme using the phrase, gaining over 800 likes in three days (shown below, right).

Related Memes

George Bush Learning About 9/11

George Bush Learning About 9/11 refers to a photograph of White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card informing U.S. President George W. Bush about the September 11th attacks. Starting in 2020, the photograph has been used in image macro and caption memes in which Bush is notified about various unpleasant developments.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References