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'Jamal Did It' is the newest trending topic on TikTok. The trend has earned severe backlash for its racist undertones.
The first known use of this trend was back in April 2022, when user @rodolfo.lopez1034 posted a video that had a series of emojis telling the story of stolen KFC chicken.
In the video, Rodolfo blamed Jamal, using the photograph of a young African-American boy. The photo in question happens to be that of actor Abraham Clinkscales.
The video gained more than 2 million views over the course of six months, but the trend did not become famous until September 2022.
A brief look at the Jamal trend being condemned by netizens
The 'Jamal Did It' trend spiked virality in September this year, but has faced severe backlash due to its racist nature, since it blames a Black boy for crimes that he obviously did not commit.
The image the trend uses is actually that of actor Abraham Clinkscales, who is most notable for Boo! A Medea Halloween. The image used comes from when he was younger, though his real age at the time of clicking the picture is not known. He graduated earlier this year so he is around eighteen years old now.
The original TikTok detailed a whodunnit type of crime wherein suspects were shown in a line-up. Three of them were white, with one character even admitting to the crime. But the last suspect was a black baby named "Lulquidication Daquan."
Comments in the video listed Jamal as the final culprit.
Other similar TikTok videos also blame Jamal for committing an array of crimes - from stealing all the cookies to being a serial killer - but his image is always followed by images of other people who are White, and none of them are blamed for these crimes.
"Blatant racism": New TikTok trend leaves Twitterati infuriated
Netizens say that the 'Jamal Did It' trend promotes racist stereotypes. Many took to Twitter to call out the ones treating the situation like a joke, instead of identifying what is problematic with it.
While one could argue that the meme is commenting on the irony of society's racial prejudices, the fact that it has become a wildly used trend states otherwise. People are now using the sound and format to recreate bizarre versions of the same meme, even as criticism continues to flood online platforms like Twitter.
TikTok has previosuly faced similar backlash - back when it first rose to fame, Black content creators found their accounts to be less promoted compared to their White counterparts. In the past trends started by Black people have also been highjacked and others have taken credit for their work.
