Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad laugh-crying with the subtitle 'He can't keep getting away with it!'

He Can't Keep Getting Away With It

2013catchphraseclassic

Published October 22, 2026

Breaking Bad fans turned a desperate Jesse Pinkman line from the show's fifth season into a reaction catchphrase, applying screenshots of Aaron Paul to headlines about public figures caught in yet another scandal. By January 2020, Redditors on r/ComedyCemetery were running the quote on CIA fedposting threads as the go-to reply for serial misbehavior.

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Overview

Posts in this format typically run a screenshot or GIF of Jesse Pinkman, eyes wild and arms outstretched, delivering the line to Hank Schrader, next to a photo or news clipping of a public figure caught in another incident of the same kind of trouble1. Twitter users applied it to Justin Bieber during his 2014 DUI arrest2, while Me.Me posters later ran it against Bernie Sanders over his anti-one-percent messaging contrasted with his personal finances3.

The quote also works as a plain thread reply dropped under news of yet another offense, no image attached. A sarcastic variant answers 'Thanks, Obama!' posts with the same line, flipping the mock complaint into mock outrage4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Breaking Bad (AMC) / Twitter (viral spread)
Date
2013

The scene comes from Breaking Bad season five, episode twelve, titled 'Rabid Dog,' which first aired on AMC on September 1st, 2013. Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) has broken into Walter White's house and poured gasoline across the floor when Hank Schrader stops him at gunpoint, and Jesse argues that Walter poisoned Brock and must be punished1. YouTube channel Liwi Taz uploaded the clip three days after the broadcast, where it later collected more than 500,000 views4.

The earliest known meme use came on January 23rd, 2014, when @BreakingBadQT posted the quote on Twitter alongside news of Justin Bieber's DUI arrest from earlier the same day, picking up 118 retweets and 113 likes over the following seven years2.

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How It Spread

Usage sat at a slow trickle through the mid-2010s before spiking in 2019 and 20204. On April 8th, 2018, an iFunny repost circulated an RT News tweet that falsely tied comedian Sam Hyde to a shooting, and the comments ran the Jesse quote as part of the long-running bit that Hyde is behind every tragedy5.

Me.Me surfaced a Bernie Sanders edit on June 16th, 2019 that applied the line to his anti-wealth messaging while mocking his personal finances3. On January 8th, 2020, Redditor u/nootnoot-till-i-die posted a CIA fedposting version to r/ComedyCemetery, which collected 42 upvotes in the months after6.

Across all three uses, the common thread is a serial offender, real or joking, who the poster claims is overdue for consequences, with Jesse's cracked delivery doing the emotional work2.

Timeline

2013-09-01

Breaking Bad season five, episode twelve, 'Rabid Dog,' airs on AMC with Jesse Pinkman delivering the line to Hank Schrader.

2013-09-04

YouTube channel Liwi Taz uploads the scene, where it later gathers more than 500,000 views.

2014-01-23

@BreakingBadQT posts the earliest known meme use on Twitter, applying the quote to Justin Bieber's DUI arrest from the same day.

2018-04-08

An iFunny repost ties the line to Sam Hyde false-shooting posts after an RT News tweet.

2019-06-16

A Bernie Sanders edit using the quote appears on Me.Me.

2020-01-08

U/nootnoot-till-i-die posts a CIA fedposting version to r/ComedyCemetery.

Frequently Asked Questions