# I Dropped My Hot Pocket

During a May 2016 Region 8 News interview about a shooting spree in Blytheville, Arkansas, local resident Merrendes Jackson said he was so startled by the gunshots that he dropped his Hot Pocket. The tonal mismatch, mourning a microwaved turnover during a report on a fatal shooting, made it an instant Vine favorite. By mid-May, a remix pairing the audio with Snoop Dogg's 'Drop It Like It's Hot' had hit over three million loops.

## Origin
On May 12th, 2016, Region 8 News, the local station serving Northeast Arkansas, aired a segment on a series of seven shootings that happened over 24 hours in Blytheville, including one that killed 34-year-old Jeffery Richardson on S. Lilly Street[1]. The report interviewed two local youths, Robert Moss and Merrendes Jackson, who had been inside a nearby house when the first shots went off. Asked how he reacted, Jackson said he was so startled he dropped his Hot Pocket, delivering the line with a straight face that made him the clip's centerpiece[2].

The next day, YouTuber Susan Shanneil White posted a phone-recorded capture of the newscast to her channel, where it hit over 444,800 views in its first month[4].

- **Platform:** Local TV news / Vine (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2016

## Overview
Vine remixes isolate Jackson's deadpan delivery of 'I dropped my Hot Pocket,' often splicing the audio against hip-hop beats or sound effects for comic timing. Typical edits loop the moment on his face alongside a music drop, with a Snoop Dogg mashup and a Kanye West 'Monster' version among the earliest viral templates[3].

The joke lives in priority inversion. Jackson recounts hearing seven shootings in his neighborhood yet grieves most audibly for the microwavable turnover he lost to the floor[2]. The clip's local news packaging, with the chyron and sober reporter voiceover, sharpens that mismatch and gives video editors material to cut against[1].

## How to Use
Vine-style edits typically isolate the exact three seconds where Jackson says the line, then cut hard to a music drop or reaction clip. Common conventions include syncing the quote to a rap chorus, looping Jackson's face for emphasis, or overlaying the audio onto an unrelated calamity so the mourned object becomes something petty.

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is I Dropped My Hot Pocket?
It is a catchphrase pulled from a May 2016 local news interview in Blytheville, Arkansas, where resident Merrendes Jackson said he was so startled by nearby gunshots that he dropped his Hot Pocket[1].

### Where did I Dropped My Hot Pocket come from?
Region 8 News aired the interview on May 12th, 2016, during a report on seven shootings in Blytheville, and YouTuber Susan Shanneil White uploaded the clip the next day[4].

### What does I Dropped My Hot Pocket mean?
The line works through priority inversion, treating the loss of a microwaved turnover as the headline fact of a shooting report, which is why Vine editors reused it against rap beats and other dramatic audio[3].

### How do you use I Dropped My Hot Pocket?
Edits typically splice Jackson's three-second quote into a music drop or a video of some unrelated calamity, often paired with hip-hop tracks like Snoop Dogg's 'Drop It Like It's Hot' or Kanye West's 'Monster'[3].

### Is I Dropped My Hot Pocket still popular?
The clip is a classic 2016 Vine artifact rather than an active format; most of its viral traffic came in the weeks after the May 12th broadcast, with over 170 remixes posted under the #DroppedMyHotPocket tag by late May[3].

## References
1. [https://www.kait8.com/story/31973478/man-killed-in-blytheville-shooting](<https://www.kait8.com/story/31973478/man-killed-in-blytheville-shooting>)
2. [https://elitedaily.com/humor/hot-pocket-shooting-interview/1494373/](<https://elitedaily.com/humor/hot-pocket-shooting-interview/1494373/>)
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-dropped-my-hot-pocket](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-dropped-my-hot-pocket>)
4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhUGuetUSlo](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhUGuetUSlo>)
5. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkOCKYYCNkA](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkOCKYYCNkA>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/i-dropped-my-hot-pocket
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