Jul 17
Gay Twitter Serves Up Endless Kamala Harris 'Coconut Tree' Meme Remixes
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 1 MIN.
From her hearty laugh to her iconic "coconut tree" line, Kamala Harris is taking over the queer pop scene one meme-enhanced remix at a time.
From the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" to Mariah Carey's "Emotions" to Ariana Grande's "nasty" to Beyonce's "Heated," remixers on Gay Twitter have been Kamala-izing hit songs by dropping in bits of a speech Harris gave on education in May of 2023.
The meme features Harris "ijboling" – which stands for "I just burst out laughing" – before she asks, "You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you."
The line originated in a speech Harris gave for the President's Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics. It's a potent summation of how the classroom experience cannot be extricated from the rest of a student's experience: life at home, in a community, and in the nation as a whole.
But there's no serious topic Gay Twitter can't turn into a good time. Users on X (formerly Twitter) have taken a clip from that speech, which Harris made in May of 2023, and made the ijbol moment into a meme with serious legs by dropping it into an abundance of remixed pop hits, some with an eye to supporting the Biden/Harris ticket in this year's historically crucial presidential election. Have a look at some of the results!
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
