# Bbq Becky BBQ Becky is a 2018 nickname and photoshop meme built around a white woman who called Oakland police on a group of Black people cooking out at Lake Merritt. The clip fueled edits dropping her into famous scenes from Black American history, and the name turned into shorthand for people who dial 911 on Black people for everyday activities. ## Overview BBQ Becky is a nickname and photoshop meme built around a white woman in dark sunglasses filmed calling Oakland police on a group of Black people having a cookout at a park in California[1]. Her frame from the clip was pulled out and pasted into pictures of major moments in Black American life, from Martin Luther King Jr's 1963 March on Washington speech to college commencements, with captions poking fun at the idea of her dialing 911 on those events[2]. The photo alone did most of the work: sunglasses on, phone glued to her ear, mouth mid-sentence. Within days of the video hitting YouTube, edits under the tag #BBQBecky filled Twitter and Facebook, and the name itself turned into shorthand for any white person who calls police on Black people for ordinary activities[3]. ## How It Spread The nickname surfaced on May 11th, 2018, when Twitter user @currentmscook joked, 'Please tell me BBQ Becky with the Terminator sunnies was standing across the street crying into her phone'[5]. That same day, Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr tweeted her picture beside the Black Guy on the Phone reaction image and proposed she replace it as Black Twitter's default 'someone calling the cops' template, pulling in roughly 6,200 retweets and 27,000 likes in three days[2]. The photoshop wave hit the next day when @TimBarnes451 dropped her into a picture of Chadwick Boseman giving a commencement speech, captioned 'Hi, I'd like to report a graduation,' picking up 1,200 retweets and 6,000 likes in two days[3]. On May 13th, @PrestonMitchum placed her at MLK's 'I Have a Dream' speech at the 1963 March on Washington, and that single edit hit 10,000 retweets and 37,000 likes within 24 hours[4]. A day later, the Facebook page RiseUpAndResist rounded up more edits under #BBQbecky and told followers to 'make BBQ Becky famous'[6]. On May 20th, Oakland residents answered with a picnic at Lake Merritt titled 'BBQing While Black,' a play on the phrase 'walking while black,' drawing hundreds of Bay Area visitors[3]. The nickname also settled into slang, with dictionary entries defining it as a racist woman who calls 911 on Black people for nothing[7]. ## How to Use The classic BBQ Becky edit takes the cropped image of the woman in sunglasses on her phone and drops her into a photograph of a beloved Black cultural moment, then adds a caption in the voice of a 911 call, like 'I'd like to report a graduation'[4]. The name is also used on its own as a label for any white person filmed calling police on Black people for lawful activities[7]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Bbq Becky? BBQ Becky is the 2018 nickname and photoshop meme for a white woman who was filmed calling Oakland police on a group of Black people having a cookout at Lake Merritt[1]. ### Where did Bbq Becky come from? The source is an April 29th, 2018 YouTube video by Michelle Dione showing the confrontation at Lake Merritt in Oakland, California[1]. ### What does Bbq Becky mean? It is shorthand for a white woman who dials 911 on Black people for everyday activities, drawn from the Oakland incident[7]. ### How do you use Bbq Becky? People edit her cropped image into pictures of famous Black cultural moments with mock 911-call captions, as @PrestonMitchum did by placing her at MLK's March on Washington speech[4]. ### Is Bbq Becky still popular? The peak viral wave played out in May 2018 across Twitter and Facebook, and the name is still cited as a classic reference for the 'calling police on Black people' meme genre[3]. ## References 1. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh9D_PUe7QI]() 2. [https://twitter.com/roywoodjr]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bbq-becky]() 4. [https://twitter.com/PrestonMitchum]() 5. [https://twitter.com/currentmscook]() 6. [https://www.facebook.com/RiseUpAndResist/]() 7. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bbq%20Becky]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/bbq-becky Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library