The Brief: #HeyAngel TikTok memes portray interactions between a cartoonish God and an angel where they have devastating misunderstandings.
DEEP DIVE
The inspiration for the first and most popular TikTok #HeyAngel meme comes from a tweet by @climaxximus where an angel misunderstands God and gives the dinosaurs a meteor instead of “making them meatier.”
god: did you give the dinosaurs more muscle like I asked
angel: wait what
god: I told you to make them meatier
angel: oh MEATier
— cam (@climaxximus) January 30, 2020
TikToker @lizemopetey turned this premise into a skit in a video that received over 3.4 million likes.
@lizemopetey is this too soon…? IB climaxximus on twitter #fyp #dinosaur ThatsHot #DinnerWithMe #MorningCheer
@lizemopetey also created a sequel where “God” cries as he sees the bones of extinct dinosaurs.
@lizemopetey God faces the aftermath…. (reposted so I have a mask this time! Even God is subject to state mandates) #fyp #meatiermeteor #dinosaur
@lizemopetey’s original video inspired a trend across TikTok where people imagine other miscommunications that God may have had with angels. Creators replicate @lizemopetey’s video style, using a paper towel beard to represent God and showing the angel and God crying over their tragic mix ups.
In mid September, TikTok featured this meme on its Discover page under the hashtag #HeyAngel. Videos associated with the hashtag have been viewed over 746 million times, although many videos under the hashtag are unrelated to the trend.
TikToker @emstayninety’s take on the trend shows an angel mistaking “ass steriods” for “asteroids” and killing the dinosaurs rather than giving them bigger butts.
@emstayninety A different twist on @lizemopetey ‘s pure genius. #dinosaur #comedy #fyp #meteor
On the wildfires burning on the West Coast:
@matvansen Are we making this a trend? Ft @chavezbenally original idea from @lizemopetey #lgbt #gay #gaybestfriendcheck #california #purify #GhostPhotoshoot
Many #HeyAngel memes reference the Coronavirus pandemic, like this one where the angel mistakes “weekend clock down” with “we can lock down.”
@ms_frazzled @lizemopetey did it first about the dinosaurs! Teacher version 🥺 #tiktokteachers #teachersoftiktok #heygod #onlinelearning #teacherappreciation
On Twitter, references to the original meatier/meteor mixup remain popular.
meatier…
…meteor
meATIER… https://t.co/vKIhPxMpO7— kyle (@unptxful) September 13, 2020
meteor meatier pic.twitter.com/nxCsKNrJUx
— elMARIAjin⁷ (@BitchTheres_7) September 19, 2020