About

When The Residents Aren't Evil is a catchphrase associated with the Resident Evil horror game franchise used by fans to joke about the game's name and what the protagonists would be doing if the "residents aren’t evil." The phrase is often paired with content featuring Resident Evil 4 character Leon S. Kennedy dancing or doing nonsensical things. The meme started in April 2023 on TikTok and Reddit, becoming popularized in June 2024 on Twitter / X and Instagram.

Origin

One of the earliest found posts using the "When the Residents aren't Evil" catchphrase was posted on TikTok^[1] on April 29th, 2023, by user @datbakacos. in the video (seen below), the creator is cosplaying as Leon from the Resident Evil 4 game alongside a friend cosplaying as Ada Wong while they're dancing at a party. The post received roughly 290,000 plays and 54,000 likes in a year.

Spread

Throughout 2023 and early 2024, memes using the catchphrase grew exponentially on TikTok, Reddit and X, mostly making fun of Resident Evil characters. For instance, on June 19th, 2024, X^[2] user @noctismp3 uploaded a video of Leon Kennedy in a dancing game, captioning it, "Leon when the residents aren’t evil." The tweet (seen below) amassed over 5.9 million views and 160,000 likes in five days.

On May 10th, 2024, TikTok^[3] user @griff uploaded a video cosplayed as Leon walking at night with the caption "omw to check if the residents are really evil." The post (seen below, left) received more than 1 million plays and 335,000 likes in a month.

On August 10th, 2023, TikTok^[4] user @syrianpsycho posted a video cosplaying as Leon captioned "Me when my neighbor's dog barks at me (the residents are evil)." The post amassed roughly 2.2 million plays and 462,000 likes in a year.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References