Zenzi

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Updated Jan 31, 2025 at 06:02PM EST by LiterallyAustin.

Added Feb 19, 2017 at 04:54PM EST by Zenzimemer.

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About

Zenzi was a short-lived prank attempted by members of 4chan in February of 2017 meant to discredit and take down YouTube meme-explainer channel Behind The Meme.

Origin

On February 19th, 2017, an anonymous 4chan user took to /r9k/ to complain about popular YouTube channel "Behind the Meme," and ask how 4chan could take it down. In response, another user suggested that in every video, 4chan commenters demand he cover "Zenzi," a meme that doesn't exist, and downvote every video in which he doesn't cover Zenzi, which they thought would result in Behind The Meme getting frustrated and quitting (screenshot shown below). It appears the original thread has been deleted, though a similar thread has been archived.^[1]

Cat In The Hat Anonymous 02 ' eT22964271 >>722964229 17(Sun)19:02:46 No. 722963975 Behind The Meme is the worst thing to happen to youtube. the f----- who owns it seems to be hellbent on exposing as many niche or spicy memes to normies as possible. this channel f------ ruins memes how do we stop it? Anonymous 02/19/17(Sun)19 18:42 No. 722965135722965392 22722985444 how about every video we recommend that he covers .zen, just that, no extra details. I have no f------ idea what comes up when you google zenzi, just made it up right now every video that isn't about zenzi is disliked bombed to the ground if we keep recommending it, he'll cave in and will do the video, piecing together whatever the hell he can from across the internet. it's bound to be hilarious. this video we flood with likes however, we don't stop recommending zenzi. every comment section will have to find any legitimate recommendations and abandons the channel upon pages of please make a video on zenzi, he won't be able 100% guaranteed to work Anonymous 02/19/17(Sun)192517 No 722965615 File: 1470011482573 png (150 KB, 329x370) zenzi works actual BTM fans start getting absolutely insane everyone starts unsubscribing >BTM gpalises his mistake and starts making actual meme

Spread

4chan members in on the joke quickly got to work trying to make "Zenzi" appear legitimate. Several image macros and videos referencing "Zenzi" were created and a subreddit^[2] devoted to treating "Zenzi" like a real thing was created. On Urban Dictionary^[3] user DrSalsa posted a definition saying Zenzi was an old meme that was inaccessible to western nations. This definition was also posted to KnowYourMeme.com, though it was deadpooled (shown below).

Revision #6 for 'Zenzi' Zenzi is a meme from zenzi which originated in 2005 It's not that zenzi! XD To view zenzi most people need a VPN, proxy or Tor beacause Zenzi is blocked in Meme Status Deadpool Year 2005 Origin Unknown western nations. Tags meme, zenzi

Behind The Meme response

Behind The Meme quickly discovered what was going on and thwarted the attempted 4chan raid by creating an explainer video for Zenzi the same day as the raid. The video turned into less of an explainer and more of an extended riff on the elitism of some meme communities. Behind The Meme's quick and accurate response to Zenzi resulted in the Zenzi raid being deemed a failure.