You Never Give Me

About Maleven

This meme is about a South African man named Maleven who is a criminal; he was interviewed as part of a series of BBC documentaries. During his interview he said "you never give me" while discussing with the interviewer how and why he commits extremely violet crimes. This became the line that he is known for because of its comedic value.

He became popular for this particularly line because of the context it was said it and the way he said. He happened to say after his friend said "you're gonna give us". The statement therefore doesn't really fit the context and is typical of Maleven's speech throughout the interview. This is however due to a rough early childhood and likely lack of education. Some users online noted this and one person on Facebook shared a funny meme commenting on his use of words.

Origin and Spread Online

The original video that this meme based off of was a 2008 BBC Documentary by Louis Theroux titled Law and Disorder in Johannesburg. The topic has resurfaced multiple times with the documentary being posted to YouTube by the BBC 8 years later in 2016. It has since had notable periods of South African internet culture since then. One example of this the resurgence of the meme on Tiktok between 2019 and 2022.

Where is Maleven now?

It is unknown where exactly he is now. One user on Reddit claimed he had been killed in Jail/Prison but this is unverified.