About

Why Does Fentanyl Feel So Good? is a YouTube video published by the educational channel Kurzegsagt in late May 2025, which explains the effects fentanyl and other opioids have on the human body and the dangers of their use. The title and the thumbnail of the video were perceived as being somewhat misleading or clickbait, with many claiming the combination made it appear as if the video advertises the use of fentanyl rather than advocates against it. This resulted in the thumbnail and title going viral on X / Twitter and Reddit in the following days, inspiring jokes, debates and edits.

Origin

On May 20th, 2025, educational YouTube^[1] channel Kurzgesagt posted a video about the dangers of fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid drug. The video, titled "Why Does Fentanyl Feel So Good?" and featuring a woman floating in an euphoric state on its thumbnail, garnered over 3 million views on YouTube in two days (shown below).

Later on May 20th, X^[2] user @MadsPosting posted a screenshot of the video's thumbnail, commenting, "what happened to this channel bro." The post (shown below) garnered over 8.6 million views, 6,500 reposts and 262,000 likes in two days.

That same day, the official X^[3] / Twitter account for Kurzgesagt replied to the post and said, "We stopped holding back bro," receiving over 450,000 views and 43,000 likes in a similar timeframe.

Spread

On May 21st, 2025, tweleb @kirawontmiss posted the preview, joking, "I was about to close YouTube and then the algorithm locked in." The post (shown below) garnered over 620 reposts and 19,000 likes on X^[4] in one day.

The initial post was followed by more jokes and memes in the following days, while users on X and Reddit discussed how it could be misinterpreted out of context.

For example, on May 20th, Redditor player_alpha posted a Gomen Amanai meme based on the thumbnail that garnered over 540 upvotes in the /r/Jujutsufolk^[5] subreddit in two days (shown below).

On May 21st, 2025, Redditor SuperPopcorn333 posted a Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue meme that garnered over 1,400 upvotes in the /r/rosesareread^[6] subreddit in one day (shown below).

Also on May 21st, X^[7] user @isfjcutebear posted a George Floyd meme based on the thumbnail that received over 890 reposts and 25,000 likes in one day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References