If you spend time on TikTok, you may have come across people being peculiar about Tuesday or with the phrase "What's up brother?"
You may have also seen people reacting a certain way when someone walks up to them with a pointed finger up and says the magic phrase.
If yes, you may have already encountered the viral trend on the platform around the streamer Sketch.
Who is the Twitch Streamer Sketch?
The whole thing started with Madden NFL player and Twitch streamer Sketch, during one of his games, suddenly shouting "Tuesday," "Special team, special plays, special players," and "What's up brother?" while doing air gestures.
A clip of that scene slowly made its way into TikTok via user @SmashClipz1 on February 13, which garnered 7.4 million views.
@smashclipz1 #tuesday #sketch #jynxzi ♬ original sound - SmashClipz1
Afterwards, more clips of the streamer start spreading across the platform, particularly targeted towards other NFL players, as a sort of inside joke. It is worth noting that the streamer Sketch has no notable mental condition and is only playing a character. A "sketch," if you will.
For those who think Sketch is actually autistic… byu/slatatat69 injynxzissg
'What's Up Brother?': The TikTok Challenge
While Sketch's content has primarily been thriving within his own community, the term "What's up brother?" went relatively unnoticed around most of the social media.
The whole trend started when TikTok user @iamdonvincent posted a video on March 29, telling "ladies to walk up to your man right now and say 'what's up brother' with a finger up."
@iamdonvincent DO IT RN #sketch #jynxzi #relationship ♬ original sound - Donnie
The video instantly gained millions of views as many TikTok users jumped into the trend to showcase their partners' reaction to the phrase, much similar to the "sleeping like a Victorian child" trend that went viral over the past year.
As of writing, the video from @iamdonvincent has already garnered 3.8 million views, 258,000 likes, and over a thousand Stitches across the platform.
It did not take long for other online influencers to jump into the trend, many of which also gained millions of views from TikTok and other social media sites.
@tannerthomas_ Whats up brother! . . . #sketch #jynxzi #savannahbananas #partyanimals #fyp #tannerthomas ♬ original sound - Tanner Thomas
Streamers Integrating into Meme Culture
The "What's up brother" trend is only the latest viral post marking the growing influence of streamers into meme culture.
A study from 2020 that the increasing acceptance live stream contents and non-conventional media has allowed content creators to also make their mark in the internet meme culture.
Oftentimes, this socialization between two media gives a chance to streamers to artificially inject trends into meme cultures like how the letter "E" became a trend by the end of the 2010s.
