Vladdy Daddy

About

Vladdy Daddy is a nickname given to Russian President Vladimir Putin used to address him as a male authority figure or idol in a sexualized manner, often ironically. The nickname became popularized as a way to refer to Putin around 2016, used in jokes about Donald Trump's perceived subservience to him. In early 2022, TikTokers, particularly among Gen Z users, began commenting the nickname on the posts of unofficial Putin Instagram pages and using it on TikTok in pleas for him not to start World War III due to tensions between the U.S. and Russia at the time over the conflict in Ukraine.

Origin

Throughout the 2010s, the word daddy took on increasingly sexual connotations, used to paint men as powerful in a sexual manner. It is unclear who first coined the nickname "Vladdy Daddy" in reference to Putin, but it started to gain prominence in 2016, often as a way of making fun of Donald Trump for allegedly being subservient to Putin. One of the earliest uses of the nickname was posted by an anonymous 4chan^[1] user to the /pol/ board on July 7th, 2016, writing, "Vladdy Daddy knows that he can walk all over Trump, and not over Shillary. Shillary is a cockroach with actual political experience and knows when, when not to, and how to play her cards. Trump as President will have no idea what he's doing."

Spread

On August 5th, 2018, Daily KOS^[2] user leachwarren posted a fan fiction about Putin and Trump titled "Putin’s Punk or (Who’s your Vladdy Daddy?)" The nickname appeared in memes throughout the late 2010s in reference to Trump and Putin, often showing Putin in a position of power over Trump (examples shown below).^[10][11]

Gen Z Thirst Comments To Vladimir Putin

In early 2022, Gen Z web users and TikTokers began leaving comments under the posts of Instagram pages pretending to be Putin and sharing news about Putin begging him not to start WW3 over the crisis in Ukraine.^[3] The pages include putin.kremlin.ru,^[4] leadervladimirputin,^[5] vrputin^[6] and vladimir.putin_offical.^[7] Notably, Putin does not have an official Instagram account. TikTokers began sharing videos showcasing the comments in late January throughout February 2022. For example, on January 23rd, TikToker @._.fr3ak posted a video where they DM a Putin account begging not to start the war, calling him "vladdy daddy" first, gaining over 75,000 views in just over a week (shown below).

On January 26th, TikToker @peepeecheezits posted a video where they Google Translate a thirst message for Putin, gaining over 1.4 million views in a week (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker @astridszarek posted a video scrolling through vladimir.putin_offical's comment section for their most recent post, showing many thirst messages, gaining over 2.5 million views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On January 28th, 2022, TikToker @earthlyfolk posted a similar video showing the comments on a Putin page's latest post, gaining over 2.5 million views in five days (shown below). The trend was reported on by numerous online media and entertainment outlets, including Meme Base^[8] and the Daily Dot.^[9]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References