# Clanker
Clanker is a robophobic slur from the Star Wars universe that went viral on TikTok in mid-2025 as a catch-all insult aimed at AI-powered machines, food delivery bots and household robots. What began as clone trooper trash talk in a 2005 video game became the internet's favorite way to express anti-robot disdain twenty years later.
## Overview
Clanker is a fictional slur used to insult droids and robots, borrowed from the Star Wars universe where clone troopers throw it at battle droids because of the metallic clanking noise the droids make when they move[1]. The word functions as an in-universe ethnic slur aimed at machines, and fans have leaned into that framing by treating it as a taboo, edgy insult you're only allowed to say if you're organic[3].
By mid-2025 the term jumped out of the Star Wars fandom entirely and became a general purpose TikTok punchline aimed at any AI-powered device, from Waymo cars to sidewalk food delivery robots to imagined AI boyfriends brought home to meet dad[1]. The comedic setup is almost always the same: a human confronts a machine, calls it a clanker, and treats the encounter with the same seething contempt a bigot might show another person.
## How It Spread
Clanker got its first real meme wave on Reddit's r/PrequelMemes in the late 2010s, where users treated it as a forbidden word in bits parodying real-world slurs. On July 18th, 2020, a now-deleted user posted a mockup "c-word pass" to r/PrequelMemes, a parody of the N-word pass but for saying clanker, and it pulled more than 22,000 upvotes[2]. Follow-ups on the same subreddit, including a November 21st, 2021 macro of a droid asking "did you just say the c-word?", pushed the joke further into general Reddit awareness with over 12,000 upvotes[1].
The word broke containment on TikTok in mid-2025. On June 29th, 2025, TikToker @nicoholm13 posted a clip of himself screaming "clanker" at a sidewalk food delivery robot that pulled over 4.8 million views in about a week[1]. The next day, June 30th, TikToker @budgetlift_bros posted a rant about clankers filmed from his car that racked up more than 2 million views in the same window[1].
A July 7th, 2025 TikTok from @lickinallonmyhomi remixed footage of Twitch streamer Kai Cenat and friends shoving a robot around on stream, captioned "me and twin beating the shit out of the clanker my daughter brought home," and hit 2.2 million views in two days[1]. Around the same time, on June 18th, 2025, @texantrooper posted an AI-generated remake of the Jetblue Burger King Racist video swapped with a stormtrooper yelling at a droid, which pulled over 420,000 views in a month[1]. Urban Dictionary entries had already logged the word as a droid slur years earlier, framing it in exactly the same taboo terms TikTok users would later adopt[3].
## How to Use
The template is almost always a first-person confrontation with a machine. Point a camera at a Waymo, a delivery bot, a Roomba, Alexa, or even a chatbot on screen, then react as if you've encountered an unwelcome outsider, typically by yelling "clanker" or muttering it in disgust. Text-based versions often build a scenario where the speaker's daughter has brought home an AI boyfriend, letting the poster play the disapproving father calling the machine a clanker at the dinner table.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Clanker?
Clanker is a fictional slur for droids and robots that comes from the Star Wars universe and went viral on TikTok in mid-2025 as a catch-all insult aimed at real AI-powered machines[1].
### Where did Clanker come from?
The word first appeared in the 2005 video game Star Wars: Republic Commando, spoken by clone commando Sev, and was later used by clone trooper Jek in the 2008 premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars[1].
### What does Clanker mean?
In Star Wars, clanker is an insult clone troopers use for battle droids because of the clanking sound the droids make when they walk, and fans treat it as an in-universe slur only organic beings say[1][3].
### How do you use Clanker?
Common usage is to film or describe a confrontation with a robot or AI device and call it a clanker with visible contempt, as in @nicoholm13's June 29th, 2025 TikTok of him yelling the word at a food delivery bot[1].
### Is Clanker still popular?
Clanker was trending on TikTok through July 2025, with videos from @nicoholm13, @budgetlift_bros and @lickinallonmyhomi each pulling millions of views in the span of days[1].
## References
1. [https://www.reddit.com/r/PrequelMemes/comments/hs1w5m/]()
2. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/clanker]()
3. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Clanker]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/clanker
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