"Let's Go Brandon", the Genie the Mainstream Media Accidentally Let Out (and Wants to Put Back In)

Co-published on Publish0x.

You may have heard of the "Let's go Brandon" chant that has gone viral across the United States. Usually, you would hear it during sports games like college football or baseball. Sometimes, the chant would extend beyond the stadium, and into bars, concerts, and even the streets. But the question is how did "Let's go Brandon" go viral in the first place?

It all started in October 2, 2021. NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast interviewed NASCAR racer Brandon Brown after he won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race. During the interview, the crowd repeatedly shouted "Fuck Joe Biden", a chant that became commonplace in sports events after the Afghanistan debacle (more on that here and here). In response, Stavast attempted to spin the chant into "Let's go Brandon".

Some assumed Stavast was doing it to cover for Biden, but I'm actually going to give her the benefit of the doubt. The FCC is pretty sensitive regarding profanity during broadcasts, so it's understandable. Regardless, the internet quickly jumped on this event and appropriated it into a family-friendly version of the "Fuck Joe Biden" chant. And thus, the meme spread across the nation as the go-to way to express frustrations at Biden's job performance.

Not only did people begin shouting the chant, but a few rappers took advantage of the opportunity to create their theme songs based on "Let's go Brandon". The raps became so popular that at one point, they took 4 of the 10 top spots on iTunes with two of them outranking Adele's "Easy on Me". Loza Alexander's music video on YouTube garnered over 4.3 million views. Heck, even a Southwest Airlines pilot played along as he sounded off with a "Let's go Brandon" during an in-cabin announcement.

It came to the point that it grabbed the attention of not just the mainstream media, but also the Biden administration. White House spokesman Andrew Bates claimed that he never heard of the chant before when asked and assumed that it originated from 8chan, an anonymous message board that's known for posting edgy content. (It didn't, the chant originated from NBC Sports). Meanwhile, the mainstream media seemed to be rather... displeased at how the chant achieved meme status. Almost every outlet "coincidentally" used the adjective, 'vulgar', to describe the "Let's go Brandon" chant from ABC to Slate to The Washington Post to NPR with some also labeling it as a "Republican agenda".

However, as you can see the ratio on NPR's tweet, people are not buying that narrative. Several have pointed out at how during Donald Trump's presidency, many people would chant "Fuck Donald Trump" and yet, the mainstream media did not label that as vulgar. In addition, the chant and its less politically correct cousin are not just chanted by right wingers. The iTunes store has an incredibly large general userbase and four "Let's Go Brandon" songs in the Top 10 is no small feat. During FOX Sports' post-game recap of Game 4 of the Red Sox vs. Astros in Boston, the crowd in the background audibly shouted the FJB chant. Note that Boston, Massachusetts is a very Democrat area.

Just today, NBC News' Chuck Todd reported the organization's latest poll numbers on Biden's job performance and described it as "scary news". He mentioned that a near majority of Democrats said the country is on the wrong track. In addition, the poll respondents trusted the Republican party more than the Democrats on border security, inflation, crime, national security, economy, and "getting things done", all with double digit margins.

Ultimately, the mainstream media was far off the mark on the nature of "Let's go Brandon" and they are frustrated. The phrase has no expletives, so anyone, including children can say it. Brandon is a very common name, making the chant generic enough that social media can't ban it that easily. The saltiness levels of the mainstream media's "reporting" is comparable to that of Chinese dictator Xi Jinping banning Winnie the Pooh and their attempts to quash the meme only enhanced the Streisand Effect.

Basically, one does not simply put the meme genie back in the bottle. The reason why "Let's go Brandon" is viral is because the majority of Americans, even across party lines, are growing frustrated with Biden's job performance. Obviously, the best solution for Biden is to do a better job. However, the mainstream media does not seem to recognize this and would rather resort to ad hominems. And unfortunately for them, there's another potential meme that may go down the... anals of history.