Who Gon Check Me Boo

About

Who Gon Check Me Boo? is a memorable quote uttered by Sheree Whitfield on the American reality television series The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Since 2009, the quote has been used as a reaction image and GIF but has grown into a call-and-response phrasal template. This variation sees a famous cultural figure or cultural event asking "Who Gon Check Me Boo" and a series of emojis depicting an anthropomorphized illustration of the meme's subject's downfall.

Origin

On July 31st, 2009, the season two premiere of The Real Housewives of Atlanta aired in the United States (clip below).^[1] In the episode, cast member Sheree Whitfield gets into a fight with her party planner, who warns her "You better check yourself." She responds, "Who gon' check me, boo?"

Spread

Later that year, on October 15th, 2009, Urban Dictionary ^[2] user Chamoses defined the phrase: "What you say to someone who threatens to check you or put you in your place. Originated from The Real Housewives of Atlanta when Sheree had an argument with a professional party planner who called her momma a bitch. Saying this to someone out of line will usually SHUT THEM UP." The post received more than 200 upvotes in one decade (shown below)

On November 5th, 2009, YouTuber PolarJennifer posted a video remix of the clip. The post received more than 138,000 views in less than a decade (shown below, left).

Nearly 10 years later, on October 5th, 2015, Tumblr ^[3] user realitytvgifs posted a GIF of the moment, receiving more than 9,000 notes in less than four years (shown below, right).

Emoji Variant

On February 6th, 2019, Twitter ^[4] user @brokeangeI used the quote in a tweet that joked about the perceived arrogance of Amelia Earhart, tweeting "amelia earhart: who gon check me boo?" The tweet then depicts an anthropomorphized depiction of the ocean using emojis, implying that the ocean was her downfall. The post received more than 4,200 retweets and 29,000 likes in five days (shown below).

Following the post, others used the formats to describe an infamous person or cultural event's killer. For example, on February 7th, Twitter^[5] user @T1TSOUT tweeted a version about the Bermuda Triangle, a mythic part of the ocean and center of numerous mysterious aircraft disappearances. Within four days, the tweet received more 15,000 retweets and 81,000 likes (shown below, left).

Throughout the following week, others have changed the format to reflect other cultural moments (examples below, center and right).

Several media outlets covered the meme, including Mashable. ^[6]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References