These memes, like mabig apple before them, seem to worry anything: a TikTk starts with a woguy claiming that the video is about his tattoo, while others claim it’s about scary videos on Netflix, before moving straight to the difficulty of Taylor’s murder. Apple Mabig videos don’t use audio until the end of the song when Nwigwe mentions McClain’s murder.
In the weeks following the protests that spread around the world, academic and neutral leaders were divided over whether the assistance of these memes requires justice or trivialization.
“The powerful thing about internet memes is that people can take them and add to them or transform them in ways that they make sense for the online communities that they’re a part of,” Meredith D. Clark, an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, told NBC News last month.
The recent meme influx of Nwigwe’s song doesn’t bother him.
“I think this is the only time I don’t care about the influence of hunting, as it helps keep it at the forefront of people’s minds,” Nwigwe said, using a term to exploit the song and wise attention, fame can give a Song, meme or trend. “I am totally in favor of the hunt for influences … if it’s for a true wise cause. So influence the cause? I’m not crazy,” he added.
Nwigwe’s hope is that justice will be done for Taylor and McClain. Otherwise, he said, the paintings would be useless.
“All the memes, the traction, the song, despite the tactics that other Americans react to, love it and reposition it, doesn’t really mean anything if other Americans aren’t arrested for killing Breonna Taylor,” he said.
Kalhan Rosenblatt is a journalist covering youth and Internet culture for NBC News in New York.
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